By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT- County officials are hoping plans continue to progress and the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge is replaced in the next decade.
Project members held a public open house at both Sea Bright and Rumson on June 8 when County Engineer Joseph Ettore said he expects the $60 million replacement project will be completely funded by outside sources.
“We are hopeful that this project will be fully funded with federal dollars,” Ettore said. “The expectation that this will be in excess of a $60 million project.
“For Monmouth County to advance, a project of this size on our own would be next to impossible, so it is extremely important that we follow the federal process and make sure that this project remains eligible for federal funding as we go through the remaining steps.”
The bridge, built in 1950, connects the two municipalities over the Shrewsbury River and represents one of Sea Bright’s two evacuation routes. Officials said the bridge is in overall serious condition and is structurally deficient.
Plans currently call for the new bridge to be constructed just south of the current bridge and will be overall wider than the current bridge. However, under the original plan, the county would have to acquire the site of a Dunkin Donuts on Ocean Avenue just north of the bridge, but officials said last week that the requirement to purchase that land would no longer be necessary.
Under the proposed schedule, the preliminary engineering phase is expected to be completed next spring with the final design and phase and right of way acquisitions being completed between the spring of 2017 and the fall of 2019. Construction is expected to begin in the 2020 winter and be completed by the spring of 2023.