A vacant apartment building along Route 440 in Hopelawn is being converted into supportive housing for residents with disabilities and high medical needs. A closing is expected in July.
Grove Avenue Bridge Repair Will Not Be Done Before Schools Reopen, Officials Warn
Metuchen officials say a wet summer pushed back the bridge replacement past the start of school, extending a detour that has rerouted traffic through Edison since late June
Metuchen High School, May 2026
Editor’s note: The Central Jerseyan is free to read and supported by advertising. If you value this kind of local reporting and want to help sustain it, you can become a citizen supporter on Patreon. Your contribution helps fund continued coverage of local government, schools, and community issues.
David M. Levitt | August 19, 2026
Hope that a complicated bridge project will be completed before school begins has been dashed.
But the Grove Avenue bridge replacement will be completed by Oct. 1, said borough business administrator Melissa Perilstein at a recent meeting of the Borough Council. She said she had a meeting with stakeholders including representatives of the Metuchen Board of Education and the state of New Jersey that afternoon.
“They had high hopes of finishing it before the start of school,” she said. “That is not going to be the case. It’s been so wet that the project will be delayed a month, so we’re looking at Oct. 1. I know it’s a huge inconvenience, but Mother Nature didn’t cooperate and no one has a direct line to control the weather.”
The project has forced a major detour around the bridge for Metuchen and Edison drivers. It began June 25. The official detour routes traffic to Plainfield Road, looping around a golf course and surrounding neighborhoods, and pushes displaced traffic onto Oak Tree Road in Edison. Perilstein said the underside of the Grove Avenue bridge, which carries the road over railroad tracks, is wooden and “dates back to the 1800s.”
DON’T LET AN ALGORITHM DECIDE YOUR NEWS
Sign up for The Central Jerseyan Newsletter for independent local news and events every week.
According to the district’s calendar, the first day of school is Aug. 31.
Attempts to reach Vincent Caputo, Metuchen superintendent of schools, were unsuccessful.
Grove Avenue has been closed to through traffic between Route 27 in Metuchen and Oak Tree Road in Edison since the project began, though residents retain access to their own streets. The Central Jerseyan first reported on the closure in June, when Mayor Jonathan Busch acknowledged the disruption in a video message posted to the borough website.
“Yes, there will be delays, and yes, there will be detours,” Busch said at the time. “These are aging systems that need maintenance now, and if we don’t allow these projects to happen, we can end up with bigger problems later.”
Once school resumes, the work zone is expected to be reduced to a single lane until the project is complete, Busch said in June.
Residents can monitor the borough website or sign up for Nixle alerts for schedule updates as the project continues.
Editor’s note: The Central Jerseyan is free to read and supported by advertising. If you value this kind of local reporting and want to help sustain it, you can become a citizen supporter on Patreon. Your contribution helps fund continued coverage of local government, schools, and community issues.
More Headlines
Edison Council Rejects 50-Year Fiber Deal After Learning Company Serves Data Centers
Four council members voted no on a right-of-way agreement after the township's own attorney described the company as a provider of high-speed connectivity for stock exchanges, AI data centers, and large enterprises — not a consumer broadband provider.
Rahway Opens Wheatena Dog Park With Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
Rahway celebrated the grand opening of Wheatena Dog Park, the city’s first dog park, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Mayor Raymond Giacobbe Jr., Senate President Nick Scutari, and county officials.