Countdown For Drivers As Lincoln Tunnel Road Project Looms

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The countdown is on for the Lincoln Tunnel road project as the already congested tunnel is about to get even worse in a few weeks.

That's when one lane will be closed in each direction on the already-congested Route 495 viaduct, which connects the New Jersey Turnpike to the tunnel. It's being done to accommodate work to shore up the bridge and replace the roadway deck.

Crews will close one lane in each direction starting Aug. 17. An entrance ramp will be closed a week earlier, on Aug. 10.

More than 150,000 motorists drive over the crumbling, 80-year-old span daily. The bridge is considered structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. The $90 million project is expected to extend the bridge's life by 75 years.

New Jersey's Department of Transportation has said it expects "severe congestion" during the bridge work and is urging commuters to travel at off-peak times if possible, and consider using public transportation. It has set up a series of detours for vehicles that need to exit off Route 495 to Routes 1&9 north and south.

Those detours, and the anticipated migration of cars seeking shortcuts, is expected to increase traffic in the cramped side streets of towns along 495 including Union City, Weehawken and Secaucus.

The construction is expected to last more than two years. For more information, click here.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)