NJ Transit to replace ancient Raritan Bay bridge

PERTH AMBOY - NJ Transit plans to replace the old and frail drawbridge across the mouth of the Raritan River with a "lift" bridge, which would allow trains to travel as fast as 60 mph.

NJ Transit Executive Director Steve Santoro on Wednesday said the agency expects to issue a design contract in the spring, with construction aimed to begin in 2019.

Preliminary engineering is underway as is the process of securing federal environmental permits.

“It is a vital link both on the commuter side and beyond," Santoro said. "When you look at the big picture, I think that's why the federal government allowed this project to be funded."

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Replacing the Raritan Bay drawbridge is a $446 million project, funded by superstorm Sandy relief aid from the federal government. Like the Hudson River tunnels and Portal Bridges, the Raritan River drawbridge is 108 years old and was walloped during Sandy. The bridge’s girders shifted about 18 inches during the 2012 storm, because of the storm surge and a large barge that slammed into it.

The bridge was closed for three weeks following the storm, suspending all North Jersey Coast Line service between Woodbridge and the 17 Shore stations south.

“If this bridge moved 24 inches during Sandy, it might have gone down, and we’d be standing here wondering how people would get to work,” Santoro said.

And just like the tunnels and Portal Bridges – which would be replaced as part of the $24 billion Gateway Program — the Raritan Bay drawbridge is a vital link to transit in New Jersey. Each day, the 330-foot bridge connects nearly 10,000 North Jersey Coast Line riders with the Northeast Corridor to New York.

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For commuters, it’s a way to get from Monmouth and Ocean counties to work in Newark or New York. For travelers, the Coast Line is the path to a summer getaway along the Jersey Shore without sitting in dreaded “Shore traffic.”

“This is the key to maximizing the number of riders,” Santoro said. “People use it to get to Asbury Park and Bay Head, to Point Pleasant – all the Shore areas. So it’s certainly a critical bridge for tourism which, in the summer, is really the economics of New Jersey."

The current bridge is a “swing bridge,” which pivots along the water to make room for boats traveling Raritan Bay. But NJ Transit’s preferred “lift bridge” design would raise the middle chunk of the bridge straight up.

The “lift” design comes with a quick turnaround from train-to-boat-to-train traffic, NJ Transit senior program manager R.J. Palladino said. While it has a maximum height of 110 feet, the bridge operator could also raise it to lower heights.

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And it creates a 300-foot-wide channel for boats, while the current swing bridge creates two channels just 25 feet wide.

“The lift bridge gives us some of the best features for reliability, resiliency and navigational improvements within the river,” Palladino said.

Most of the year, the Raritan River draw swings open about four or five times per day for boat traffic. During the summer, it opens about 14 times per day, Palladino said.

And if another Sandy comes through? NJ Transit can simply lift the bridge – and its vital mechanisms and controls – out of harm’s way.

“This is arguably more vulnerable to another storm” than the Gateway tunnels, Santoro said.

Mike Davis: 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com