(The following story by Larry Higgs appeared on the Asbury Park Press website on May 15.)
RED BANK, N.J. — The long steel bridge, which carries NJ Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line trains over the Navesink River, is getting $5 million worth of repairs.
NJ Transit’s board of directors Wednesday approved a $5.191 contract with Midlantic Construction LLC of Manasquan to rehabilitate the bridge between Red Bank and Middletown.
The bridge carries 97 trains a day on weekdays, said Richard Sarles, NJ Transit’s executive director. The work is not expected to affect riders, he said.
“It’s work more on the (bridge) foundations than the superstructure,” Sarles said
The bridge was built in 1913 by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and the work calls for rehabilitating the bridge foundations by repairing or replacing deteriorated concrete pier pedestals in the river, which support the steel girders of the bridge.
The project also will replace rusted steel parts, such as base plates, masonry plates on the concrete piers and anchor bolts.
The project is estimated to be completed in mid-February.
The board also approved contracts with three companies, totaling $1.87 million, to do in-depth inspections and load analysis of 110 of the 658 bridges owned by NJ Transit. The results will be used by NJ Transit to develop its capital repair and replacement program.