Emergency Track Repair Forcing Township to Close Wyckoff Avenue

Repairs to a train track running though the heart of Wyckoff has forced township officials to close a stretch of Wyckoff Avenue completely to traffic on Tuesday.

Wyckoff Patch has learned that the half-mile stretch of road between Main Street and Godwin Avenue will be completely closed to vehicular traffic from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This comes afer more than a week of headaches and delays involving underground repairs at a highly trafficked Wyckoff intersection.

A recent safety inspection by railroad officials revealed a broken train track that requires "immediate" repair, Committeeman Kevin Rooney said Monday.

"To add insult to injury with all the other road closures in the community, we're going to need to shut down Wyckoff Avenue tomorrow for this emergency railroad track repair," he said.

"We're going to wait until after starts and the kids get in.... and [the railroad company is] telling us they can get out of there by 3 if they can get full closure this way when the kids get out of camp and rush hour starts the road will be open again," he said.

Bergen County Police would be detouring commuters along Franklin or Godwin avenues, Rooney added. 

The committeeman met with DPW Director Scott Fisher on Monday to chart a plan of action for the township while New York Susquehanna & Western Railway works on the track.

"All of our police off are being utilized by PSE&G throughout the community, so we're going to be getting a county cop to come in and assist," Rooney said. 

In addition to the PSE&G roadwork that led to backed up traffic that  Wyckoff last week and pulled a number of officers onto the streets to direct backed up cars at Wyckoff and Franklin avenues, Rooney said that Verizon was also conducting work in the township.  

"We've got Verizon repairs that the county [police are] coming in to assist with too," Rooney said.

Stay with Wyckoff Patch as this story develops.

Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Joseph M. Gerace at Joseph.Gerace@patch.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox every morning, sign up for our daily newsletter.