Bridge advocates seek to save Highlands span
Coalition forms to save bridge from demolition, replacement
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

COURTESYOFPAULSCHARFF Highlands Bridge

SEA BRIGHT - A group of residents, seeking to save the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge from the wrecking ball, is exploring several options, including a possible court injunction, as a means of sparing the aging span.

The grassroots group of bridge preservationists, mainly from Highlands, Sea Bright, Atlantic Highlands and the Belford section of Middletown, say the structure's historic value and its connection to the Twin Lights make it worth saving.

Earlier this week, the preservationists formed the Coalition for Sandy Hook Ferry Service to promote that initiative, according to a press release the group issued on Monday.

The preservationists are proposing three ways to save the structure - one of which is to seek an injunction from the courts to prevent construction from starting this spring.

The second proposal is an ongoing letter-writing campaign to state officials, which has been led by Highlands resident Jim Parla.

The third proposal calls for the initiation of seasonal, weekend-only ferry service as a means of redirecting motorists bound for Sandy Hook to use the local catamaran service in lieu of driving over the bridge, the preservationists say.

Meanwhile, Sea Bright Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams said this week the historic aspects and the bridge's association with Twin Lights should afford it special status.

"I would like to see the bridge declared a historic landmark and preserved," Kalaka-Adams said.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) is set to begin construction on a proposed 65-foot-high fixed replacement span over the Shrewsbury River in April.

Like the existing 35-foot-high drawbridge, the replacement span would carry Route 36, linking Highlands and Sea Bright, and providing a route to the Sandy Hook unit of Gateway National Park.

Unlike the current span, the replacement would be twice as high and have an elevated pedestrian walkway. The DOT contends that the bridge must be replaced to accommodate ever-increasing vehicular traffic to Sandy Hook.

But advocates of the 74-year-old span say there are alternatives.

"I think every one of the 200-plus people who wrote letters [to state officials] will want to join the ferry service," Parla said in an e-mailed statement. "We all want to keep the drawbridge. But we also want to get visitors from Route 36 over to Sandy Hook quickly."

Coalition members reason that with the ferry service in place, motorists would instead be using the catamarans, not the bridge to go to Sandy Hook.

As a result, traffic volume on the bridge would go down and the DOT could no longer argue that the volume of traffic makes replacing the span necessary, said coalition member Fred Callis of Atlantic Highlands.

"Our goal is to get those cars off Route 36 more quickly and to get those passengers to Sandy Hook more quickly," Callis said in the coalition's press release.

"Our objective is to see the government establish and promote summertime weekend ferry service from Belford, Highlands, and to a lesser extent Atlantic Highlands, straight across the bay to Sandy Hook," he went on.

About 1,100 parking spots are available at the New York Waterway terminal on weekends and sufficient parking is available in Highlands for ferry patrons, said Anthony Krysyzckowski, a coalition member from Belford.

Altogether, the parking availability makes the ferry service feasible and could break the gridlock on summer weekends along Route 36 and onto the bridge, Krysyzckowski said.

Steve Garelli, owner of Steve's Luncheonette on Ocean Avenue in Sea Bright and a coalition member, said the idea for the seasonal weekend ferry service "just plain makes sense."

Garelli predicts that the $90 million price tag the DOT has estimated to replace the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge will actually end up costing $140 million by the time it is completed in late 2009.

If the existing bridge is in need of repair, as the DOT has stated, it should be brought up to standards, not replaced and razed, he continued.

"Instead of paying $140 million for a heavy construction company to build a new bridge and then disappear, let's spend $50 to repair the bridge, and spend the rest on promoting weekend service for Seastreak and New York Waterway," Garelli said.

Seastreak General Manager David Stafford indicated on Tuesday that he is not familiar with the proposal.

Kalaka-Adams voiced concern earlier this week safety conditions related to motorist and pedestrian safety on the new span.

Despite assurances from DOT officials who have reviewed the designs with Sea Bright officials, Kalaka-Adams believes that because the new bridge would be twice as high and exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, it will be more subject to icing and slippery conditions in inclement weather.

"No other bridge in New Jersey faces the ocean directly," Kalaka-Adams said. "We'd also like the 45 mph speed limit lowered as it comes into Sea Bright."

Overall, Sea Bright officials had very little say in the design of the bridge when the DOT presented in a series of workshops, Kalaka-Adams said.

Last month, the New Jersey Historic Preservation Sites Council voted unanimously to recommend that the DOT not be allowed to demolish the current bridge and that it remain intact due to its historic value and its connection to the Twin Lights.

The Historic Site Preservation Council, based in Trenton, is an advisory branch of the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

As of Monday, DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson was still considering the Historic Sites Preservation Committee's opinion and has not yet issued a final ruling on the matter, according to Karen Hershey, a DEP spokeswoman.

However, DOT officials have asserted that the bridge construction will go forward as a means of enhancing motorist safety and to make the span, which now opens regularly to let taller watercraft travel underneath, more efficient.