The State Department of Transportation is set to replace the 35 foot high draw bridge that spans the Shrewsbury River between Highlands and Sea Bright with a 65 foot single span structure that will forever alter the character of the two quaint shore communities. The new structure will alter the views and reduce the property values of many residents. It will negatively impact commerce. It won't reduce summer traffic...not until the next project...the expansion of Route 36 (Ocean Ave) in Sea Bright to four lanes, which is next on the drawing board and will require the taking of beach front property via eminent domain.
The governing bodies of both Highlands and Sea Bright oppose the new bridge as proposed. Residents have organized and hired their own attorney to fight it. When the Highlands Borough Council withdrew their support of the bridge reconstruction as planned and killed a land swap deal that would deed a beach adjacent to the bridge to the State in exchange for land on the highway, the DOT informed Highlands that they would be taking the beach and compensating the borough the fair market value of $2.00. My suggestion that we offer DOT $4.00 for the bridge and then lease it to a European conglomerate went no where.
The Mayors and Councils and citizens of Highlands and Sea Bright have been going at this alone. Congressman Frank Pallone has been silent. Assemblymen Sean Kean and Steve Corodemus have been silent. Kean sits on the Assembly Transportation Committee. Senator Joe Palaia effectively retired two terms ago. U.S. Sentaor Frank Lautenberg, who sits on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee is no where to be found. None of the 11th district legislative candidates from either party have spoken out on this issue.
Why? Because the fix is in. The public hearings are a farce. There are millions of federal dollars at stake and the 8,000 residents of Highlands and Sea Bright be damned.
DOT Commissioner Kris Kolluri will be in Sea Bright and Highlands on Thursday the 21st, along with contractors to blow smoke up the butts of the residents who attend the farcical hearings.
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3 comments:
Just how steep do the rocket scientists at DOT intend to build this new bridge? Check out Route 35 over the Shark River. Steep. And your bridge could be even worse since one side (Sea Bright) is so much lower than the other (Highlands). Danger, danger, danger.
Think he is talking about the oceananic bridge.
Not the Oceananic Bridge. Or even the Oceanic Bridge.
Art is talking about the Route 36 bridge from Highlands to Sea Bright, near the Sandy Hook entrance. I'm referring to the Route 35 bridge over the Shark River, from Neptune to Belmar, near Avon, which is very steep.
The Oceanic Bridge is over the Navesink River, from Rumson to Middletown.
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