22 Monmouth/Mercer County Bridges In Need Of Repair

MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ — The American Road and Transportation Builders Association, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, published its annual bridge report this past Monday, April 1.

The report assess all the bridge repairs needed in the nation and the group ranked New Jersey as the 27th worst in the nation for percent of structurally deficient bridges. The 2019 report rated more than 47,000 bridges nationwide "structurally deficient" and in urgent need of repairs. Americans cross these bridges — which were built an average of 62 years ago — 178 million times a day.

Rhode Island had the highest percentage of structurally deficient bridges at 23 percent. West Virginia, Iowa, South Dakota and Pennsylvania rounded out the top five.

In Monmouth and Mercer counties, here are the most-traveled bridges that are the most structurally deficient and in need of repairs. (In other words, a crumbling bridge that is little used would not make the list.) The bridges are ranked in order from most heavily traveled to least:

1. Bridge: US 1 over US 1 Business N.B. (Mercer County)

Built in 1973, 55,000 daily crossings

2. Bridge: Route NJ 34 over Frmr Freehld & Jamesbrg RR (Monmouth)

Built in 1935, 39,734 daily crossings

3. NJ Rts 33 EB & 34 SB over Southern Division (Monmouth)
Built in: 1927 37,644 daily crossings

4. NJ 31 over Trenton Line (CSX RR) (Mercer)
Built in 1934, 34,760 daily crossings

5. US 130 over Millstone River (Mercer County)
Built in 1936, 32,720 daily crossings

6. NJ 35 over Ashley Ave (Monmouth)
Built in 1950, 32,250 daily crossings

7. US 130 over Doctors Creek (Mercer)
Built in 1951, 30,510 daily crossings

8. NJ 33 over Manalapan Brook (Monmouth)
Built in 1927, 28,215 daily crossings

9. Route NJ 166 over No. Channel of Toms River (Ocean)
Built in 1928, 27,186 daily crossings

10. Route NJ 72 over Manahawkin Bay (Ocean)
Built in 1958, 25,619 daily crossings

11. NJ 35 over Edgar Felix Bike Path (Monmouth)
Built in 1932, 24,898 daily crossings

12. Princeton Pike over I-95 M, ramps B and D (Mercer)
Built in 1973, 23,851 daily crossings

13. NJ 35 over N Branch Wreck Pond (Monmmouth)

Built in 1931, 22,978 daily crossings

14. Route 36 over Troutmans Creek (Monmouth)
Built in 1941, 22,672

15. U.S. 1B over Five Mile Run (Mercer)
Built in 1928, 20,662 daily crossings

16. US 9 over Waretown Creek (Ocean)
Built in 1925, 19,800 daily crossings

17. Qukrbrdg Rd CR533 over Miry Run (Mercer)
Built in 1936, 19,770 daily crossings

18. S Olden Ave(CR622) over Pcrr Sidetrack (Aban) (Mercer)
Built in 1930, 18,880 daily crossings

19. North Olden Avenue over Amtrak NE Corridor (Mercer)
Built in: 1923, 18,700 daily crossings

20. NJ 34 over Gravelly Brook (Monmouth)
Built in: 1929, 18,603 daily crossings

21. NJ 35 NB over NJ Rt 36 NB, Ramp G(GSP) (Monmouth)
Built in: 1931, 17,576 daily crossings

22. Union Hill Road over US 9 (Monmouth)
Built in: 1940, 17,380 daily crossings

According to the Federal Highway Administration's website, the definition of structurally deficient was changed in 2018. The new definition limits the classification to bridges where one key structural element, such as the deck, superstructure, substructure or culverts, was rated in poor or worse condition. All the data in the latest report, including those for previous years, uses the new definition.

Dr. Alison Premo Black, the organization's chief economist who conducted the analysis, called the report "no April Fool's joke."

"America's bridge network is outdated, underfunded and in urgent need of modernization," said Black. "State and local government just haven't been given the necessary resources to get the job done."

Some notable bridges deemed structurally deficient by the report include:

• New York's Brooklyn Bridge
• Memorial Bridge connecting Washington, D.C. with Arlington, Virginia
• San Mateo-Hayward bridge crossing California's San Francisco Bay – the longest bridge in the state.
• Robert S. Maestri Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana
• Albemarle Sound Bridge and the Lindsay C. Warren Bridge crossing the Alligator River in North Carolina
• Florida's Pensacola Bay Bridge
• Vicksburg Bridge in Mississippi
• Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge in Washington state

You can read the full New Jersey report here: https://artbabridgereport.org/reports/state/ARTBA_Bridge_Profile_2019_NJ.pdf