Bridge advocates call on state to repair span
Group claims repairs would extend life of bridge for years
BY LIZ SHEEHAN
Correspondent

Highlands Bridge

The state should begin repairing the drawbridge that connects Sea Bright and Highlands, local group Citizens for Rational Coastal Development said in a press release issued Aug. 2.

Shirley Olman, co-chair of the bridge advocacy group, said in the statement, "The state has refused to perform necessary repairs on this bridge for over 10 years. They have delayed and delayed, waiting for the chance instead to tear down this landmark and replace it with a highway-style monster bridge."

The citizens group has joined with the boroughs of Sea Bright and Highlands in opposing the state Department of Transportation's (DOT) plan to take down the 75-year-old drawbridge and replace it with a fixed bridge that will be 30 feet higher.

On July 6 two appeals seeking to have the state's plans to demolish the bridge overturned were filed with the Appellate Division of state Superior Court in Freehold.

One was filed by attorney Janine G. Bauer of South Orange on behalf of Sea Bright and Highlands, and the second was filed for Citizens for Rational Coastal Development by Stuart J. Lieberman of Princeton.

The DOT's application to replace the existing bridge was approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection, although the N.J. Historic Sites Commission, an advisory board of the DEP, had recommended that the application be turned down because it "failed to demonstrate" that rehabilitation of the old bridge would not be "prudent and feasible, thereby avoiding the adverse effect to Twin Lights."

The Twin Lights is a National Historic Landmark that overlooks the bridge, and opponents of the higher bridge say it will block the view from the historic lighthouse.

Earlier in the summer, DOT Commissioner Kris Kolluri was greeted with large crowds that spoke against the DOT bridge plan at meetings in both Sea Bright and Highlands.

At the meetings, Kolluri said that the bridge was in a "rapidly deteriorating condition" and was rated as the "worst" movable bridge in the state.

In a recent news report, when Gov. Jon Corzine ordered a report on the bridges in the state last week, Kolluri was quoted as saying the Sea Bright-Highlands bridge was considered the worst movable bridge in the state and was inspected four times a year, but added it was still safe for motorists.

The commissioner did not say what safety ranking the bridge had in regard to all the state's bridges, not just movable bridges, and a call to the DOT to determine that ranking was not returned before press time.

In the press release issued by the citizens group, Olman said that if the drawbridge is repaired, it could stay in service "for many years to come."

She said although the bridge is located close to the ocean and subject to the elements, it "has one of the safest accident rates of any bridge in the state" because it "is nearly flat."

The bridge now has a grade of 1.5 percent, and that would be increased to 6 percent on the new proposed bridge, Olman said.