Township officials want to help Mercer make decisions
By:John Tredrea
One of the two remaining cast iron bridges on public roadways in Hopewell Township is scheduled to be replaced by Mercer County within the next 18 months or so, but township officials hope upcoming talks with the county will produce a plan to save the bridge.
The span, which is 110 or more years old, crosses Jacob’s Creek on Route 579, or Bear Tavern Road, near its junction with Maddock Road in the southwestern part of the township.
The county’s current intention is "to try to replace the bridge with a structure that meets the approval of everyone, including township officials," county engineer David Stem said Friday. He said the job would cost about $1 million. Included in that tab would be the cost of moving the existing bridge to a new location in the township, also over Jacob’s Creek, along a footpath on land accessible to the public.
He said the design for the new bridge for Route 579 most favored by the county at this point is a steel truss structure, resembling the iron truss bridge now in place.
Mr. Stem added that the county’s capital improvements plan also includes a proposed renovation of the township’s other cast iron bridge on a public roadway. That bridge crosses Stony Brook on Mine Road, just east of Route 31 in the north-central part of the township. "That bridge would get a new deck, railings and paint," Mr. Stem said. "The basic structure itself would remain. It’s a restoration, not a replacement project."
During the March 1 township meeting, Deputy Mayor Jon Edwards said the township "wants to be part of the process" of deciding whether the bridge over Jacob’s Creek must be replaced. Mr. Stem and county transportation director Berta Scott both said the county has had, for many months, every intention of including the township. "Including the township in the dialogue is part of the basic process under which we handle projects like this," Ms. Scott said.
"These bridges add to the rustic, rural character of Hopewell Township that we’re trying to preserve," township Committeewoman Kathy Bird said during the March 1 meeting. Like Mr. Edwards, Mayor Marylou Ferrara and Committeeman Robert Higgins, she said she hoped a plan could be devised under which the bridge could be saved.
Township resident William Schoelwer wondered if the Jacob’s Creek span is salvageable. "Cast iron, by its very nature, tends to shatter, not break," he said, adding that he would "hate to see a catastrophe involving a loss of life" should the bridge collapse.
Mayor Ferrara replied that, while safety is of course the paramount concern, all township officials are seeking is investigation of the possibility of developing a plan under which the bridge could be saved, at a reasonable cost, without jeopardizing those who cross it.
David Blackwell, chairman of the township’s Historic Preservation Commission, said: "Basically, we’re asking the county engineer to rethink the specifications for the bridge (such as what its weight limit would be) and work from that." Mr. Blackwell and the commission he chairs want to save the bridge if at all possible. He said the two cast iron bridges still in the township are significant historic sites in his words, they are "exceptional examples of something that’s almost disappeared from our landscape."
The current posted weight limit of the Jacob’s Creek bridge is 3 tons.