Route 50 will close in both directions at the Cedar Swamp Creek bridge in Upper Township, Cape May County, at 10 p.m. on Monday, November 16, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) said on Thursday, November 12, as crews begin tearing down the old span and building its replacement. The closure covers the stretch of Route 50 between Tyler Road and Tuckahoe Road (County Road 631), and signed detours — with a separate, longer route for trucks — will stay in place through early 2027, NJDOT said.

Source: Cape May Scanner

Residents and businesses inside the closed stretch, including the Ocean City Campground & Beach Cabins, will keep local access while the bridge is out, according to the announcement. Everyone else has to follow the detours from Monday night, and NJDOT is posting updates through its 511NJ traffic service as the work proceeds.

The detours, street by street

Cars heading north on Route 50 will turn right onto Tyler Road (County Road 616) and then left onto Tuckahoe Road to rejoin Route 50. Southbound cars will turn left onto Tuckahoe Road and then right onto Tyler Road back to Route 50. Temporary traffic signals are being installed at Route 50 and Tyler Road and at the Tyler Road–Tuckahoe Road junction to handle the extra traffic, the Ocean City Sentinel reported when county commissioners backed the full-closure plan in August.

The detour plan was worked out with Upper Township, emergency services and school transportation officials, the county said. “Safety, coordination with emergency and school services, and minimizing long-term inconvenience remain our top priorities,” Cape May County Commissioner Director Leonard Desiderio said when the plan was approved.

Why the bridge is being replaced

NJDOT rates the existing bridge, at milepost 2.88 over Cedar Swamp Creek, in poor condition. NJDOT's project materials say the span was built in 1966. It is not an obscure crossing: Route 50 is a designated coastal evacuation route for Cape May County shore communities and a main way in and out of the shore for summer and fall visitors, so a weak bridge on it is a safety problem in a storm as well as a daily one.

The plan changed along the way. Earlier proposals would have built the new bridge in two halves and kept one direction of traffic moving across the creek the whole time. County and state officials instead chose a full closure, saying closing the bridge outright shortens the job. The new bridge will have 10-foot shoulders and room for a future sidewalk, along with roadway, drainage and environmental work.

The $47.7 million contract was awarded in May to Agate Construction Co. and a joint venture of A. Servidone Inc. and B. Anthony Construction Corp., the governor's office announced at the time. Governor Mikie Sherrill's administration has presented the crossing as a first for the state: it is NJDOT's first design-build job, with one team responsible for both the design and the construction. NJDOT's public-meeting materials for the project listed bridge construction starting in October 2026, and the department now expects the project to be finished by the end of 2028.

What it means for drivers and truckers

For the Punjabi and South Asian trucking families who run the Jersey Shore and South Jersey corridors, the practical change is time: Shore Road (Route 9) becomes the freight path around the creek for more than a year, and the county-road car detour through Tyler and Tuckahoe roads is not open to trucks. Dispatchers running loads toward Ocean City, Sea Isle City and the southern shore should build the Route 9 loop into schedules from Monday night, and expect the new temporary signals on the detour roads to slow local traffic at school and commute hours.

What happens next: the closure takes effect at 10 p.m. Monday, November 16, demolition of the 1966 span follows, and the detours remain until the new crossing is far enough along — NJDOT says through early 2027 for the detour pattern, with the full project running to the end of 2028. Drivers can check 511NJ for changes before travelling.