Repair work on a leaking natural gas line on Riverside Avenue in Red Bank had northbound traffic on Route 35 backed up nearly to Waverly Place early Tuesday afternoon as vehicles encountered a one-lane bottleneck just past West Front Street. Both southbound lanes were closed for the length of Riverside, though Middletown police report no significant backups from detours. Red Bank police say they’ve been told the work should be completed by about 4 p.m.

Update, 2:45 p.m.: as seen in the photo at right, traffic is backing up onto Cooper Bridge. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)