DOT: Span is worst drawbridge in state Pallone asks DOT to consider repair, lower replacement BY LIZ SHEEHAN Correspondent It was evident before Kris Kolluri, commissioner of the N.J. Department of Transportation (DOT), began his presentation June 21 on the state's plan to replace the 75-year-old drawbridge that connects Sea Bright and Highlands with a fixed bridge 30 feet higher, that public interest in the proposal was high. The 5 p.m. meeting in Sea Bright had to be delayed so chairs could be moved from the council room to the larger community center in borough hall to accommodate around 125 people who attended. And, as Kolluri spoke and answered questions, the comments and queries from the audience were unanimously against the bridge replacement proposal. The borough councils of Sea Bright and Highlands have passed resolutions opposing the bridge's replacement and have retained an attorney who specializes in transportation and environmental and land use law, Janine Bauer, to represent them in their attempt to block the plan. Kolluri said he had the responsibility to ensure "the safety of the people on the bridge." "If something happens on the bridge, it is my obligation," Kolluri said. Among the slides shown were ones showing a portion of cement under the bridge that had deteriorated so that the mesh reinforcement was showing. Other slides showed sections of the steel support on the bridge that were now "razor thin" because of age. Kolluri said the bridge was in a "rapidly deteriorating condition" and had been rated as the "worst" movable bridge in the state. It opens 700 times in the summer season and broke down 14 times in 2006, he said. Bridges are typically inspected every two years, Kolluri said, but the Sea Bright-Highlands bridge now is inspected four times a year. He said the information that the state had on the bridge's condition would be given to the borough's attorney and engineer. Kolluri said he couldn't take the option to close the bridge "off the table." He said the cost of repairing and rehabilitating the bridge would be $86 million to $96 million and there would also be the cost of paying seven full-time operators. A new bridge would cost $124 million, of which $100 million would be for construction. "With all due respect," Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams said after the presentation, "I don't find it to be accurate at all." She said that if the bridge was supposed to be inspected every two years, why, after 75 years of inspections, does the borough have a bridge "that has been patched by plywood." She also questioned a slide of a picture that was shown in the presentation, of a pedestrian crossing from the bridge over Route 36 to the east side of the road that did not include the existing ramps that lead from the bridge to the town or to Sandy Hook. Local residents could not recognize where the pedestrian crossing was to be placed from the slide, because of the elimination of the ramps, and the mayor had to point out where the crossing was located. Kalaka-Adams said the proposed 45 mph speed limit for the bridge would be in conflict with the recently established 35 mph limit in the borough that is enforced in the summer, when traffic on the bridge would be heaviest. The mayor said she would welcome a weight limit on the bridge, one of the conditions Kolluri said might have to be put into effect if the bridge wasn't replaced. She said the borough is in favor of restricting very large trucks from using Route 36. Stuart Lieberman, an attorney representing Citizens for Rational Coastal Development, an area group that opposes the DOT's plan for the bridge, said, "Take what you heard, go back to Trenton, figure out a way to save this bridge." He said it was "unfortunate" that the state had invested $14 million in developing the plan. When the group hired Lieberman, a press release was issued that said the law firm was retained "to file the necessary legal action" concerning the bridge's demolition. A statement from Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6) was read that referred to a letter he had sent to Kolluri. In the letter, Pallone said that given the local community's concerns about the proposed new fixed bridge, "I would like the Department of Transportation to consider again the options for the repair of the current bridge and the possible construction of a similar [one] to replace the current structure." And in a statement by Assemblyman Sean Kean (R-Monmouth) that was read, Kean said that the DOT should take into consideration the views of the local governments and residents and make the bridge design "more agreeable" to them. Before the meeting, Steven Labelle, an engineer with the DOT, said the new bridge would have a grade of 6 degrees and the highest point would be in the middle of the 1,200-foot length of the structure. The present grade is around 1.5 degrees. Opponents of the bridge replacement say it will be detrimental to the historic nature of the area and interfere with the views of and from the Twin Lights, a National Historic Landmark. The N.J. Historic Sites Council, an advisory board of the state Department of Environmental Protection, recommended that the DOT's application for a permit to build the new bridge be turned down , saying that the application had "failed to demonstrate" that a rehabilitation of the existing bridge would not be "prudent and feasible, thereby avoiding the adverse effect to Twin Lights." After finishing answering questions in Sea Bright, Kolluri and the officials who accompanied him went to Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands for a 7:30 p.m. meeting, where a larger crowd waited to ask more questions about the plan.