BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — Sitting in a line of vehicles atop Route 36’s Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge to let tall vessels safely pass underneath the opened span could become a memory after a higher, wider replacement bridge is constructed. The first phase is scheduled to begin in 2007.
Because the proposed new bridge would sit 65 feet above the water level of the Shrewsbury River, or 30 feet higher than the existing span, even the tallest water craft should be able to clear the fixed structure, according to plans displayed at a Dec. 8 public information session in Sea Bright by the New Jersey Department of Transportation [DOT].
Construction of the 1,582-foot-long replacement fixed bridge, which would essentially entail constructing the new span over the present-day 1,240-foot-long span, is tentatively scheduled to begin in the spring of 2007 at a total estimated cost of $76 million, excluding engineering or environmental mitigation charges, DOT officials stated.
The project will be paid for entirely with funding from the Federal Highway Administration, DOT representatives told area residents who came out to view the construction plans at an informal information session inside Sea Bright’s Cecile F. Norton Community Center.
Most of those who wrote their names and addresses on a sign-in sheet inside the front door of the center’s gymnasium were residents of Sea Bright and Highlands, the two communities that the existing 71-year-old bridge links.
Altogether, more than 100 residents of both affected communities as well as nearby Rumson, Middletown and Atlantic Highlands also signed in as they entered the gymnasium to look over various maps, engineering drawings, photographs of current conditions and even a simulated, animated model of present-day bridge traffic and resulting back-ups during the summer months.
The entire project is now in the preliminary design stage, meaning that only the type of structure, known as a mid-level fixed bridge, has been finalized, according to Pankesh Patel, the DOT’s project engineer for the plan.
The DOT is now in the process of seeking mandated permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as contracting geotechnical studies of the areas on both side of the span, Patel explained.
Design elements such as the guard rails on either side, lighting, planned center median, and construction staging areas on both the Highlands and Sea Bright sides will be incorporated into the final design, which Patel expects to submit for DOT review and approval sometime next year.
The preliminary design shown by DOT calls for the new bridge to be just over 92 feet wide with four 12-foot traffic lanes, two westbound and two eastbound, divided by a concrete median. One 8-foot shoulder/bike lane and one 8-foot sidewalk on either side have also been incorporated into the design.
Ramps approaching the bridge from both sides will be reconfigured and in some cases demolished. A small two-story building, owned by the National Park Service and situated near the entrance of the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, will be demolished to make way for a new entry ramp from that side of the span, Patel noted.
New turnarounds within Sandy Hook itself are also included, as are two pedestrian overpasses on the east end of the bridge to ensure continuity from the span over Ocean Avenue into Sandy Hook or Sea Bright., DOT plans show.
The alignment of the new structure will be shifted slightly by about 30 feet to the south of the existing bridge near its mid-point over the river’s navigation channel, according to the plan’s actual designer, Lynne Baumann, an engineer with Jacobs Civil Inc., of Iselin, Woodbridge Township.
However, the east and west abutments on both sides will remain the same as those now in place, DOT plans show.
Moving in stages over the course of about two years, the lanes will be shifted on the existing bridge as construction goes on over it, Baumann explained. Construction is expected to start at the east end and move toward Highlands, she added.
With nearly 2,200 bridge openings per year, especially between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the current structure, first built in 1933, is no longer practical, Patel said.
During the peak late spring and summer season, the bridge opens every 30 minutes for up to 10 minutes each time, to allow larger boats and water craft to pass through underneath, he went on
“The main reason for [replacing the bridge] is to reduce the marine and vehicular conflicts that exist today,” Patel said.
Because the present bridge does not have shoulders or a center median, it does not meet DOT standards and it is rated to be in poor condition by the state agency, he continued.
In cooperation with local historical preservation organizations, particularly in Highlands, the DOT will work to incorporate two longtime features, a veterans’ monument on the south side of the bridge entrance and painted, hand-drawn tiles on the north side of the roadway, to be incorporated into the final bridge design, Patel pointed out.
Many of the community members asked Patel what the fate of those features would be.
“We will incorporate whatever local historical elements are there,” he said.
Frequent bridge openings and resulting delays are “unacceptable” to local residents and tourists traveling to and from Sandy Hook, DOT materials state. Because of its situation, the bridge is part of a planned emergency evacuation route for Sea Bright residents as well as an ambulance route for Highlands residents, the DOT states.

