Historic group could halt bridge replacement
DEP head to consider keeping current drawbridge in place
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

SEA BRIGHT - If a large group of historic preservationists get their way, the existing Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge might not be coming down.

The New Jersey Historic Preservation Sites Council, a branch of the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), voted 8-0 at its meeting last week in Trenton to deny the application by the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to demolish the 74-year-drawbridge over the Shrewsbury River.

However, Erin Phelan, a DOT spokesperson indicated on Tuesday that the bridge replacement will go forward next year as scheduled.

"The DOT is replacing the Route 36 bridge in order to ensure the safety of motorists," Phelan said.

No contracts have yet been awarded for the estimated $90 million project slated to begin construction next year, Phelan said.

"The DOT has scheduled submission of its final designs for November 2," Phelan said. "We hope to advertise the project for bids in January 2007, and to award a contract in March 2007."

The vote by the historic group, which is an advisory body, is a recommendation, not a mandate, according to Elaine Makatura, a DEP spokeswoman.

However, the group's decision, along with supporting documentation, will now go to DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson for her consideration and a final ruling, Makatura said on Tuesday.

As for the future of DOT's plan to replace the 35-foot-high movable span with a 65-foot-high fixed span, Makatura indicated that it is uncertain whether or not the project will go forward.

"It's too soon to say," she said.

Up to now, DOT officials have been preparing nearby communities, including Sea Bright, for the bridge construction scheduled for April and continuing for two years until 2009.

The Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge, which opens regularly to allow taller marine vessels to pass underneath, carries state Highway 36 over the river.

Traffic coming southeast from Highlands ends up on Ocean Avenue, a continuation of state Highway 36, on the Sea Bright side.

DOT officials have previously told Sea Bright officials and residents that the replacement bridge would be constructed using federal funding.

The battle to save the bridge, which ultimately led to Trenton for last Thursday's meeting of the historic council, actually originated in Monmouth County, according to Jim Parla, Highlands resident who attended the meeting.

Parla and some of his neighbors initiated a letter writing campaign in August to state and federal officials to protest the proposal to demolish the bridge, which they insist has historic value.

The letter-writing campaign generated more than 200 letters from residents not only in Highlands, but from throughout Monmouth County and beyond, Parla said.

Copies of the letters were sent also to Gov. Jon S. Corzine and to DOT and DEP officials and the state's Historic Preservation Office.

Parla, who said he was one of several members of the public who addressed the historic council prior to the vote, says that he and his neighbors in Highlands initially believed that the replacement bridge would be constructed no matter what happened.

Nonetheless, sentimentality about the bridge and its history prompted them to try to save it anyhow, he said.

That is when Parla and other bridge advocates found out that a replacement bridge was not necessary as the DOT officials had stated previously, he said.

"I am just a Highlands resident who took an interest," Parla said in an e-mailed statement. "I had been told for 10 years that this is a done deal. My neighbors had been told the same thing.

"But I figured I would go to a meeting in Trenton anyway," he continued. "So did three other people."

In a public workshop held in late 2004 in Sea Bright, DOT had told officials and residents that the age of the span, the necessity of opening it regularly for tall vessels, and increased vehicular traffic, justified razing the old bridge and building a new one.

However, Parla and other bridge advocates, having researched the matter further, say that the DOT has not now convinced them that replacing the span is necessary.

"When we started looking into it more deeply, we found that the DOT was telling one thing to the locals, and the opposite to the public officials in Trenton," Parla wrote.

"They told us the drawbridge was falling down and couldn't possibly be repaired," he continued. "But they told the public officials in Trenton, [that] it could be repaired if the locals demanded it."

"So we wrote a letter to the public officials and our neighbors wrote letters," Parla concluded.

Before the DOT can start a project, the agency must first consult with other agencies, such as the DEP on the environmental impacts of the construction and any encroachments on area wildlife, Makatura explained.

The DEP, through the historic council, also looks at potential impacts on historical and cultural aspects of the area in which the project takes place, she went on.

The Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge is tied into the Navesink Twin Lights, the DEP has determined.