With a blessing, Highlands Bridge reopens to traffic
Traffic shifts onto completed southern half of span
BY KIMBERLY STEINBERG Staff Writer
Asmall group of Sea Bright and Highlands officials gathered at the Route 36 Highlands Bridge for a blessing of the structure before its reopening on Oct. 29.

Left: The Rev. Michael Manning, of Holy Cross Church in Rumson, blesses the Highlands Bridge. Above: In attendance for the reopening of the bridge are Highlands Councilman Chris Francy, Sea Bright Councilman William "Jack" Keeler, Rev. Manning, the Rev. Marty McGrail, of the New Life Christian Church in Highlands, and Sea Bright Mayor Maria Fernandes.

The Rev. Michael Manning of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Rumson and the Rev. Marty McGrail of the New Life Christian Church in Highlands both blessed the bridge.

"A nice group of people came out, and we all walked to the top of the bridge, where the fathers blessed us and the bridge," Sea Bright Mayor Maria Fernandes said last week.

Fernandes said the first half of the new Highlands Bridge reopened to traffic on Friday, Oct. 30, with one lane open in each direction.

"The contractor is very pleased, as he met his opening deadline," Fernandes said.

New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Steven Dilts said in a press release issued last week that replacing the Highlands Bridge, which connects Sea Bright and Highlands Borough over the Shrewsbury River in Monmouth County, is a public safety issue.

"Opening this newly completed structure will mark a major milestone for DOT's $124.5 million Route 36 Highlands Bridge replacement project," said Dilts.

"Replacing the seriously deteriorated Highlands Bridge demonstrates our commitment to maintaining public safety and improving our aging bridge infrastructure," Dilts continued.

The DOT planned a staged shift of Route 36 traffic onto the newly completed southern half of the new Route 36 Highlands Bridge

Last Friday morning, southbound Route 36 traffic was shifted onto the new bridge. During the late afternoon, Route 36 northbound traffic was shifted onto the new structure.

Traffic exiting Sandy Hook continued to use the existing bridge over most of the weekend period. On Monday, Nov. 2, the new entrance and exit ramps to and from Sandy Hook were opened. Weather permitting, all traffic will then be handled by the new structure.

Subsequently, the DOT will begin construction on the northern half of the new bridge, as well as final demolition of the old bridge, with construction scheduled for completion in December 2010.

The new span is 65 feet above the Shrewsbury River and 125 feet below the Twin Lights. The new bridge will begin and end approximately at the same points as it currently does in Highlands and Sea Bright.

The DOT began construction in February 2008, when the existing bridge, which was built in 1932, had more than reached the end of its useful life. The new bridge has been designed to serve motorists for 100 years.

The contract to replace the 75-year-old drawbridge that joins the boroughs of Highlands and Sea Bright was awarded to lowest bidder J.H. Reid General Contractor of South Plainfield.

According to a DOT press release, the former Route 36 Highlands Bridge was rated as being in the worst condition of any movable bridge in New Jersey. The bridge is part of the emergency evacuation route for Sea Bright and the Gateway National Recreation Area.

The DOT had stated that the existing bridge could not be salvaged. Reasons cited by the DOT to replace the bridge included the bridge's age, safety, storms, traffic and accidents.

"It is functionally obsolete and structurally deficient. The bridge's deficiency creates extensive delays and congestion, particularly during the summer months, when the beach lots are filled in Sea Bright and on Sandy Hook, and the bridge opens twice an hour for maritime traffic on the Shrewsbury River," the website stated previously.

The DOT has staged the replacement project in a manner that will enable motorists to cross the Shrewsbury River throughout construction, according to the press release. Route 36 will remain open to traffic for the duration of the project.

The DOT said it has advanced traffic management plans in place for summer 2010, the final summer season during which construction operations will take place. To better accommodate passage into and out of Sandy Hook, the DOT said, a four-minute traffic-signal cycle would be employed with fully actuated traffic control operations.

Additional cameras will be located in the park, which, along with the deployment of Incident Management Response teams on weekends, will help return wait times into the park to preconstruction averages, the press release states.

In addition to the new bridge, the DOT will improve intersections in Highlands and Sea Bright to include pedestrian and bicycle access paths on and off the bridge, two pedestrian bridges, and modifications to the existing toll plaza at Sandy Hook. Other community enhancements include improvements to South Bay Avenue Park that have been added to the project.

The DOT also said it will incorporate architectural features including two monuments at the east and west abutments of the bridge in order to reflect the historic setting and character of the existing bridge.

The new bridge's historic features include decorative fish tiles replicated from the existing bridge, concrete pilasters to support the roadway lighting poles, and a five-bar open steel rectangular railing that will enhance the openness of the bridge and provide unobstructed views of the Atlantic Ocean.

According to the DOT website, the new stationary bridge eliminates the conflict between highway traffic and marine traffic, as well as the delays caused by bridge openings.

The DOT's controversial plan to demolish the historic drawbridge and replace with a 30-foot-higher fixed bridge drew opposition from the borough of Sea Bright and a local grassroots group, Citizens for Rational Coastal Development, which unsuccessfully sought to block the project through the courts.

A complaint was also filed with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation about the removal of the remnants of a pre- Civil War historic dock allegedly without going through the proper channels. In addition, charges included that the transfer of two parcels of land to the DOT necessary for the project to proceed was illegal because it lacked a municipal resolution, ordinance, Green Acres review or State House Commission approval.

Further, a DOT employee was arrested and charged with falsifying or tampering with records, a fourth-degree crime, in connection with an agreement of sale for property transfers for the project. The employee was charged after an investigation revealed that he allegedly twice forged the signature of the Highlands borough clerk on documents identified as agreements of sale for the transfer of parcels to the state, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.