Public input sought
on bridge replacement
BY GLORIA STRAVELLI
Staff Writer

Members of the public will get the chance to comment on plans for future replacement of the Hubbard Bridge that links Red Bank and the River Plaza section of Middletown.

A Public Information Center meeting will take place in Red Bank June 29, 7-8:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building at 90 Monmouth St. A similar meeting was scheduled for June 23 at the River Plaza Elementary School in Middletown.

The Monmouth County Engineering Department is holding the meetings in cooperation with the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to discuss replacement alternatives for the span, also designated as CR 10, West Front Street Bridge, S-17.

The new bridge will be built with federal funds and the meetings are required by federal and state regulations.

Ingyung Englehart, project engineer for the county, said the public meeting will begin with a brief presentation that will include an overview of repair work recently completed on the existing structure, which dates to 1921.

The bridge was closed for about a month and the 10,000 cars that travel over the 337-foot span daily were detoured to other area roadways to allow the bridge superstructure to be replaced.

Replacing the superstructure was a temporary measure to allow time for the planning and design process for a new bridge to replace the existing span.

The project involved removing the existing deck of the bridge and erecting a temporary prefabricated truss superstructure. The substructure was overhauled in 1992.

"The work is temporary and will last only up to 15 years, so within the next five to seven years we need to replace the bridge by putting a permanent, new bridge up," she explained.

"We’ve already started investigating alternatives and the permanent alternative options that are feasible will be presented to the public, which will have the opportunity to offer input and comment," she said.

Englehart and Sayed Moafi, chief engineer, will moderate and the presentation by consultants with French & Parrello Associates, Holmdel, will include graphic renderings of design alternatives.

According to Englehart, design alternatives that were considered included no replacement, replacement of the existing bridge that spans the Swimming River, and the preferred alternative — building a new bridge parallel to and north of the existing structure.

The discussion will include the issue of the alignment alternatives of the new structure.

A public comment/question and answer period will follow the presentation.