Rosedale Road bridge replacement plan in Princeton roils neighbors

By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
   Some 70 residents living in the vicinity of Rosedale Road bridge over Stony Brook expressed serious concerns Tuesday over a planned seven-month Mercer County project to tear down the span and build a new bridge.
   County officials believe road closures associated with the work will begin sometime in early 2009 and end in the summer months, prior to the opening of schools. The bridge contract will include a clause that would result in a $1,000 penalty for every day of project overruns, according to Gregory Sandusky, Mercer County engineer.
   The 71-year-old stone-faced bridge, located just west of the entrance to Johnson Park Elementary School, is structurally deficient and was placed on a county priority list of structures deemed appropriate for replacement following nationwide concerns sparked by the Minnesota Interstate 35 bridge collapse, according to Mercer County officials.
   Originally the bridge had a capacity of 37 tons, but a Princeton University analysis in the 1980s revealed a flaw in the design that resulted in a downgrade to six tons.
   Now, nearly 20 years after that downgrade, the county is ready to move forward with a $2 million project that will replace the bridge with a new span that will retain its unique stone façade.
   ”It’s been on our radar for a number of years,” said Mr. Sandusky told the residents at a meeting at Johnson Park Elementary School.
   Residents at Tuesday’s meetings questioned the county’s selection of a plan that results in the total closure of the bridge for seven months, instead of a plan where portions of the bridge would remain open to traffic.
   ”Taking out this vital artery between Princeton and Lawrence is a terrible decision. … It’s not based on real study,” said Jonathan Frieder, the vice president of the nearby Ettl Farm at Princeton neighborhood homeowners association.
   But plans leaving portions of the bridge open for vehicular or pedestrian traffic were not feasible, according to Mr. Sandusky.
   He said road width limitations imposed by the location of important utility poles led to the decision that any plan besides one relying on the complete closure of the bridge, for at least six or seven months, would lead to an unsafe situation. Also complicating matters are environmental restrictions because Stony Brook is stocked with trout, resulting in a total ban on any work in the actual stream from March 15 to June 30.
   Work in and around the stream, including removing the old bridge components and building support structures, must be completed by March 15 or else the project would face serious delays, officials said.
   Another source of ire for residents was the road closure itself and the resulting detour route — using Carter Road, Route 206 and Elm Road. Many audience members said it would lead to serious traffic problems.
   ”I predict chaos,” said one woman.
   Others cited new, longer commute times to work, slower emergency service response, and longer times for dropping off children at local schools, although the bridge is already having an impact on local schoolchildren and their wake-up times.
   School buses, which weigh over 12 tons when empty, were actually using the bridge up until a few weeks ago.
   Despite the weight discrepancy, school officials only learned of the capacity issue at a recent bridge meeting and immediately rerouted buses onto alternate roads, according to Robert Ginsburg, principal of the Johnson Park Elementary School.
   Residents succeeded in lobbying county officials to request that Bristol Meyers-Squibb in Lawrence close its Province Line Road entrance to free up the roadway for local detour traffic.
   County Traffic Engineer George Fallat also agreed to look into adjusting traffic signal times at key detour intersections and consider implementing temporary signals at the Rosedale Road-Province Line Road intersection.
   Later in the meeting an official from Princeton Borough said the borough had tentative plans to close portions of Mercer Street for repairs at the same time as the Rosedale Road bridge’s closure. Such a closure would have also led to a Route 206 detour, exacerbating traffic problems.
   County officials said they were unaware of the timing of that planned closure, and have since scheduled a meeting with the borough and township to prevent such an occurrence.