Work on Sea Bright bridge to begin in April
Residents urged to brace now for traffic delays, especially in North Beach
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

SEA BRIGHT - Just about a month before beach-lovers come to town next year, construction on the new Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge is slated to begin.

Though the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) is still working out the details, the state agency plans to start the monumental task of replacing the span that carries state Route 36 over the Shrewsbury River sometime in April, according to Erin Phalon, an agency spokeswoman.

"DOT is still in the final design stages of the project," Phalon said of the federally funded $90 million construction project last week.

More than two years after the first phase of building begins, in late 2009 a new 65-foot-high fixed span will replace the existing 35-foot-high movable bridge, which will link Sea Bright and Highlands via the state highway, Phalon said.

Though the summer of 2006 is still in full swing, borough officials are advising residents to get ready for some new traffic patterns along Ocean Avenue, which is a portion of Route 36, once bridge construction starts.

One of the project's first phases will bring some of the traffic leaving Sandy Hook at Gateway National Recreation Area into Sea Bright's North Beach section, according to Councilwoman Dina Long, who chairs the borough's Police and Public Safety Committee.

Plans shown recently by the DOT to several borough officials including Police Chief William Moore show that the westbound ramp exiting Sandy Hook and leading to the bridge will be temporarily closed during those early stages, Long reported at the Borough Council's July 18 meeting.

Traffic would then be configured by the DOT to go south on Ocean Avenue over the border from Sandy Hook into Sea Bright, where a temporary traffic signal will be placed near Brooks Seafood, Something's Fishy, and Gaiters, all on Ocean Avenue, Long said.

The traffic would then be directed to turn right and head back northbound on Ocean Avenue before heading westbound on the bridge, she said.

"There will be major traffic congestion," Long said. "There will be a temporary signal near Brooks [Seafood]."

Moore will be in close contact with the DOT up to and during the bridge replacement project, Long noted.

At the state level, Phalon would not confirm the information presented to Long and the borough.

No such plans concerning the closing of the westbound ramp from Sandy Hook have been adopted as of yet, Phalon said last week.

"The DOT has not finalized a traffic mitigation plan," Phalon said. "The beginning of construction is still a year away."

Though Sea Bright officials generally agree that a replacement bridge is needed, a proposed 18-foot-high pedestrian walkway that leads from the 92-foot-wide bridge to the east side of Ocean Avenue has been a sensitive spot for town leaders, business owners and residents alike.

Pedestrians or bicyclists exiting the ramp would end up across the busy, two-lane highway.

Crossing the highway to access the businesses or homes on the opposite side, especially during the busy summer months, could prove dangerous, officials have said.

Even in voting 5-1 during the council's June 20 meeting to endorse the DOT's designs of the span and walkways, some borough officials say they hope to convince the state's engineers and bridge designers to place the end of the ramp on Ocean Avenue's west side.

Dissatisfied with the DOT's design of the overpass and believing that the council would not be able to turn back after endorsing the design, Council President William "Jack" Keeler cast the lone dissenting vote against supporting the state agency's plan.

A scale model of the pedestrian overpass might be created in time for submission of final plans this September to the state government, DOT officials have said.

In May, DOT officials told the council the agency would look into installing a flashing warning light at Sea Bright's end of the new span as a means of cautioning motorists to slow down before entering Ocean Avenue, where pedestrians are known to cross to the beachfront.

The DOT's renderings have shown that the replacement bridge will hold two 12-foot-wide traffic lanes in each direction, a center median, one 8-foot-wide shoulder/bicycle lane, and pedestrian walkways on either side.