Yet another sinkhole closes Route 80 west, causing traffic nightmare

🚨The first sinkhole on Route 80 west in Wharton opened up Wednesday afternoon

🚨All lanes were closed out of an abundance of caution by the NJ DOT

🚨State Sen. Anthony Bucco said he expects Route 80 to be closed for some time

WHARTON — Work on Route 80 to stabilize the roadway because of voids under the roadway took a big step backward Wednesday afternoon when another sinkhole opened along the westbound lanes.

Video shows the new 15-by-15-foot hole, the first on the west side of the highway, is nearly opposite the area on the east side where a sinkhole opened up around Christmas and another in February.

All the westbound lanes were closed at Exit 34 (Route 15) around 5:30 p.m. with traffic detoured onto northbound Route 15. Westbound traffic backed up for at least 10 miles Wednesday afternoon and again on Thursday morning.

The state Department of Transportation said it closed the road out of an abundance of caution to assess the situation. State Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, told Eric Scott on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show that he expects the situation to be a problem for a long time.

"I can't emphasize enough the testing that they're doing out there is so important because until we can ultimately define the extent of this problem we can't fix it safely," Bucco told Scott.

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Starting over?

It could come down to closing that entire stretch of Route 80 and start over again, according to the Senate Republican leader.

"I think that temporarily we've got to secure that area so that we can get that artery reopened.The impact on commuters here is gonna be just horrendous and also the impact on on the surrounding municipalities as we detour this traffic off of both sides of the road now," Bucco said.

U.S. Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J. 7th District, has asked the federal Department of Transportation for resources.

The Senate Republican leader said that crews were working on the crossover lane to bring eastbound traffic into a westbound lane when the third sinkhole opened. It throws into doubt the crossover lane plan to bring truck traffic off Routes 10, 15 and 46, which have become bogged down with alternative traffic.

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