The New Dicksons Mill Road Bridge Will Be Barely Wider Than the Old One. Harding Fought for That.

"We have files on this bridge that are five inches thick." Committeeman Nicolas Platt said that in 2021. He was describing a fight he said began in 2004, with former Mayor Lou Lanzerotti and the late former Mayor Marshall Bartlett, over one small span on Dicksons Mill Road.

That fight is why the road has been closed since Sept. 21. Morris County is replacing the bridge, and the design behind the barricades is the result of those thick files. The new bridge will be only a little wider than the one it replaces, and keeping it that size took a commissioner-level exception to the state's own standard.

What 26 Feet Would Have Meant

Morris County describes the old bridge as a single span built in 1923 and widened in 1984. The Observer-Tribune gives 1921 as its official date, and Platt has said photographs show the bridge is older than that. According to the county, its prestressed concrete beams have minor cracking, water leaks through the beam joints from the road surface, and some material has been lost around the foundation. That is why the county chose full replacement over repair.

No one in Harding seriously argued against replacing it. The argument was over width. In 2019 the Daily Record described Dicksons Mill Road as a narrow, mile-long road through fields and historic estate properties, used by travelers before the American Revolution. The road itself was 18 feet wide. The bridge widened it to 20 feet, with signs warning of a narrow bridge and a 4-ton limit, and it was barely wide enough for two cars to pass.

Federal, state and county guidelines produced a design for a 26-foot bridge. That would have widened the roadway by almost half where it crosses the brook. Platt argued the bigger bridge would hurt the historic setting and invite speeding on a crossing where, in his words, "there is no record of any traffic accidents ever taking place."

The money depended on that design. The county said early on that the bridge had to be widened by several feet or the state would not pay for it. The state awarded $1 million in 2020 to replace it, and a majority of the Township Committee passed a resolution that year supporting the 26-foot project so the county could apply for state funding.

The Exception

Platt kept pushing anyway. He said publicly that he would chain himself to the bridge before he let it be widened to 26 feet. Then a letter came from NJDOT Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti granting an exception for a 22-foot bridge. Platt called it a true "Oh My God" moment.

"It's so much more than just this bridge. This will serve as the case example for all rural bridges in the state of New Jersey going forward." — Nicolas Platt, quoted in the Observer-Tribune

Earlier this year he described the design going in. He said it would have stone facing and dove white paint to match the earthy tones, and that it would look like "a basic New England bridge." He also said the standard design "would have completely hidden the beautiful brook." Assemblyman John McKeon had said he would chain himself to the bridge alongside Platt.

The county's September announcement doesn't give a width. The 22-foot figure comes from the exception and from Platt's description of the design, so it is the planned width. No one has measured the finished bridge yet.

Why a 2024 Bridge Is Being Built in 2026

In July 2023, the Observer-Tribune reported a county timeline that put construction in summer 2024 and estimated about four months of work. Late in 2022 the county had sent its 90 percent bid documents to NJDOT. Those had to be resubmitted early in 2023 under a new state project-management system. NJDOT's comments in June 2023 then required more calculations and design work from the county's engineer.

Two more limits came from the brook and from the bridge itself. Platt said earlier this year that the state Department of Environmental Protection would not allow work to start until nesting season ended for the native turtles living in the brook under the bridge. Work also couldn't begin until the precast beams were made. "The beams had to be specially cast," he said. After that, the old bridge would be taken out piece by piece.

None of the sources explains every month between the 2024 forecast and this fall's start. The story they do tell runs through review cycles and site conditions. Nothing in them points to the township changing its mind.

What the Narrow Bridge Protects

The width argument was about what you see from the road, and this stretch has plenty to see. A Harding Land Trust marker on the road describes a dam on Pine Brook that once made the valley a pond and powered a sawmill, which later became a cider mill. The miller's house stood behind the marker, and the mill stood between the marker and the brook. An archival photo posted with the marker's listing shows the mill around 1930. It burned in 1931.

The marker stands at Koven Field, 30 acres of stream corridor, wetlands and woods. The Land Trust describes it as its first property, a gift from the Koven family. The Land Trust's own pages give two different years for that gift, 1990 and 1992. The marker uses 1992.

The brook names change along the way. The county calls the stream under the new bridge Silver Brook. The Great Swamp Watershed Association traces Silver Brook from Route 202 in Morristown to the point where it joins Bayne Brook and forms Great Brook. Great Brook flows into Silver Lake and then through the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge to the Passaic River. The Daily Record described the road as ending near the spillway over the Silver Lake dam. So the small crossing behind the barricades sits on water that ends up in the refuge.

Living With the Detour Until Spring

Here is how the closure works, according to the county:

• Closed to through traffic since Monday, Sept. 21, starting after the morning rush hour.
• Signed detour of about 2.5 miles using Spring Valley Road and Blue Mill Road.
• Work hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
• Duration is about six months, weather permitting.
• Contractor is CMS Construction of Plainfield, on a $1,436,895 contract with Morris County, funded through NJDOT's Local Bridges Fund Program.

If the six-month estimate holds, the road reopens around late March 2027. Platt gave a wider range of six to eight months earlier this year and said only local traffic would be allowed through during construction. The county's announcement doesn't say whether Koven Field can be reached from either side during the closure. If you're planning a walk there, ask the Harding Land Trust first.

The detour roads get extra traffic this week. On Wednesday, Oct. 7, and Thursday, Oct. 8, the township is milling and repaving Van Beuren Road, and the whole road is closed to through traffic. Residents can still reach their homes from Blue Mill Road to Red Gate Road, or from Spring Valley Road to the Morris Township border. For those two days, Blue Mill and Spring Valley carry both the bridge detour and the Van Beuren access traffic.

Questions about the bridge go to the Morris County Division of Engineering and Transportation at 973-285-6750.

Width rules, stone facing and the setting a road keeps all affect what a Harding property is worth, the same way the house does. If you own along one of the township's older roads and want to talk about how that character factors into a future sale, Harding Luxury Homes can walk you through it. Let's Connect.