County presents option for bridge replacement
BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — Monmouth County Engineer Joseph Ettore came to the July 21 Township Committee meeting with a recommendation on the West Front Street bridge replacement process.

After reviewing multiple options for replacing the bridge, which connects the River Plaza section of Middletown to Red Bank, the two municipalities must choose one before final design and construction can begin.

Monmouth County Bridge S-17, which was built in 1921 and carries West Front Street (County Route 10) over the Swimming River, has a seven structural sufficiency rating on a scale of 100 and serves more than 21,000 vehicles a day, according to Ettore.

According to a presentation made at the July 28 Middletown Township Committee meeting, the bridge is classified as structurally deficient and since the sufficiency rating is under 50, the span is eligible for federal funding for replacement.

"We're waiting for a concurrence of the recommendation we put forth, and we would hope that would be done by a municipal resolution," Ettore said. "We would like to have [a resolution] by the end of August at the latest so we could proceed to submit all of our documents to the state."

With this timeline, he said, final design could ideally start in early 2009.

Ettore said that of the various options available, the one that would disrupt traffic the least calls for building a new structure to the north of the existing bridge.

That option would not necessitate closure of the existing bridge for most of the two and a half years of the project's duration.

"The only time that a detour would be required under that scenario would be for the tie-ins to the existing roads," Ettore said. "During the remaining part of that 30-month process, traffic would continue to use the bridge that's there today."

He said the project is in the local scoping stage, which includes evaluating various alternatives to address the public need.

Ettore said the options for the Hubbard Bridge were also presented to the Red Bank Borough Council for review. The various options fall within the $10 million range.

"There are still many steps that need to take place before we start construction," he said.

The other option presented included a total reconstruction of the bridge on the existing alignment.

That alternative would require a detour for the entire project.

In order to ensure safety until a replacement option is chosen and constructed, the bridge deck and supporting girders were replaced in 2004.

"In our opinion, the basis for the recommendation is the minimization of the impact on the traveling public, the 21,000- plus vehicles that use the bridge," Ettore said. "Detouring traffic for 30 months as opposed to three or four … [is] really what tipped the scales to favor that particular alternative. Though we recognize there is some private property required to build it, it's really very minimal."

Ettore said a lot of possible impacts were considered before a recommendation was made, including the fact that the detour would re-route about 21,000 cars a day past the River Plaza Elementary School.

"We weighed quite a bit of impacts when we made our recommendation, and [after looking at all the] factors and looking at all the impacts, we feel this is the most prudent recommendation," he said.

Middletown Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger asked Ettore what the next step was on the township level.

Ettore responded that the Township Committee must approve a resolution in support of the county's bridge plan.

"We'll have to discuss it in a workshop," Scharfenberger said.