$1.3M in stimulus funds will stabilize Oceanic Bridge
County: $80M needed to replace deteriorating span
BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer
Some $1.3 million in federal stimulus funds have been set aside by Monmouth County to rehabilitate the deteriorating Oceanic Bridge, which connects Rumson and Locust Point.

Oceanic Bridge

The bridge is currently in need of a series of improvements to offset severe corrosion caused by extensive rusting that has begun to eat away at some of the main portions of the span's midsection, Monmouth County Engineer Joseph Ettore said last week.

Ettore discussed the condition of the bridge during the Monmouth County Transportation Council's sixth Transportation Summit held at Monmouth University on May 5.

The summit featured presentations on enhancements to the state's railway system as well as the deteriorating bridge.

Constructed in 1939, the 2,700-foot-long Oceanic Bridge consists of 57 individual spans and a 100-foot-long double-leaf bascule span at the center that opens up to allow boating traffic to move along the Navesink River, Ettore explained during the meeting.

"It's in a very corrosive environment," Ettore explained. "We have experienced significant section loss."

Improvements to the bridge are expected to include repairs to several portions of its midsection, which are currently deteriorating as a result of severe rusting.

"Multiple portions of the bridge deck and steel sections of the bascule span itself have significant rust and corrosion damage," Ettore explained.

"The purpose of the project is essentially to restore some of those steel section losses to the bascule span and to maintain its loadcarrying capacity," Ettore said.

"In order to do that, we'll have to replace some of the primary structural elements in the bascule span," Ettore said. "The estimated cost of that work is $1.5 million, of which we will be using $1.3 million in stimulus funding."

The Oceanic Bridge, Ettore explained, is considered to be a priority bridge, meaning that it is in need of extensive repair work.

While the planned $1.5 million project is projected to allow the span to remain open to traffic, Ettore explained that it will not save the structure entirely.

According to Ettore, the current bridge structure will have to be either completely rehabilitated or reconstructed entirely in order to allow traffic to continue to cross that portion of the Navesink safely.

"In addition to the bascule span itself, the rest of the structure, whether you are looking at the substructure or the approach spans, this structure has served Monmouth County very well since 1939, but essentially our scoping results have indicated that we need a complete replacement of the Oceanic Bridge," Ettore explained.

"The stimulus dollars we will be using for the Oceanic Bridge are essentially to allow that structure to remain in service while we pursue the complete replacement or rehabilitation of that structure," he said.

"Because the cost to replace the entire bridge will be approximate $80 million — that's about $75 million in construction and another $5 million in final design — we realize that is too much project to fund at the county level," Ettore explained. "So, a decision was made over 10 years ago to pursue federal dollars."

In May 2008 county officials estimated the minimum cost to completely replace the bridge at $58 million, some $23 million less than current estimates.

The Oceanic Bridge was the center of controversy for several years while the county was looking at several different plans to replace the historic but deteriorating structure, including one that would increase the height of the span.

The governing bodies of Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver and Middletown passed resolutions opposing a larger, fixed bridge, and county officials eventually recommended that a new span built to replace the bridge should remain a low-level, moveable bridge rather than a higher, fixed span.

Construction on the bridge project is expected to begin sometime in 2014.

In addition to the Oceanic Bridge, officials on hand for the May 5 transportation summit also discussed the condition of the state's railway system, including the construction of the controversial Monmouth Ocean Middlesex, or MOM, rail extension as well as the Access to the Region's Core (ARC) tunnel project, which is expected to create additional rail lines from New Jersey to New York's Pennsylvania Station.

Early discussions on the MOM line saw officials from throughout the state's midsection debate three potential rail line extensions for use in the project.

Two of the options — a Red Bank rail line extension, which would have seen a rail line travel from Lakehurst through Eatontown and into Red Bank; and a Matawan extension, which called for the construction of a rail line from Lakehurst to Freehold Borough, where passengers would have been diverted to Matawan — have both been determined to be inadequate, Monmouth County Freeholder John D'Amico explained.

The third and most viable option, D'Amico explained, is the Monmouth Junction line, which would see a rail line that would connect Lakehurst and Freehold Borough. Passengers on the line would then be diverted toward South Brunswick, where they would connect with NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line.

The purpose of the MOM line, according to NJ Transit, is to create a rail line option for residents in Central Jersey to travel to Newark and New York.

With the construction of the line, state and transit officials hope to ease traffic congestion throughout the state's midsection. Additionally, the line would enable residents closer to the center of the state to travel by rail to areas such as Princeton and Trenton, two of the state's larger employment hubs, D'Amico explained.

Research conducted by NJ Transit and state officials into the effectiveness of the MOM line has shown that construction of the Red Bank or Matawan extensions would prove less useful than the Monmouth Junction line in both easing congestion and enabling residents to travel to Princeton and Trenton, D'Amico explained.

Further presentations regarding rail travel in the state featured a discussion on the Access to the Region's Core rail line.

The line, which is being constructed through a joint effort by New Jersey and New York as well as the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, is expected to create two additional rail lines from New Jersey into New York's Penn Station.

Currently, there are only two rail lines open for the route, which are operating at their maximumcapacity, explained Alan Weinberg, senior director of real estate and public affairs with NJ Transit.

With the construction of the $8.7 billion tunnel, Weinberg explained, the states would be able to handle the roughly 44 million trips passengers make between the states each year.

For more information on the Monmouth County Transportation Summit, visit www.planningmonmouth.com.

Contact Daniel Howley at dhowley@gmnews.com.