The state and county have made slow progress on repairing and renovating bridges in the area since the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) issued its Final Bridge Report and Capital Analysis in October of last year. The report was issued in response to a directive from Governor Jon Corzine following the catastrophic collapse of the Interstate 35 West bridge in Minneapolis last summer in which 13 people died and over 100 were injured.
The report gives bridges a "sufficiency rating" on a scale of zero to 100. The rating scale is designed to function somewhat as a bell curve so that any bridge with a rating between 50 and 70 would be considered in average condition and in need of only routine maintenance, according to NJDOT spokesperson Tim Greeley. Any bridge with a rating of 80 or less and a classification of "deficient" is eligible for federal funds for rehabilitation. Bridges with a rating of 50 or under would be eligible for federal funds for out-right replacement. Applications for federal funding would be filed by the NJDOT with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
In addition, the report classifies bridges as "deficient" when the bridge is unable to handle the vehicle loads or speeds that would normally be expected and that are posted for that highway and as "obsolete" when the bridge has inadequate width or vertical clearance for its associated highway. The NJDOT is supposed to evaluate the state's bridges at least once every two years, according to Greeley.
The Kingsland Avenue Bridge in Lyndhurst received a sufficiency rating of 24 and was classified as "deficient" when it was last evaluated by the NJDOT in February of 2006. The bridge falls under the jurisdiction of Bergen and Essex Counties.
Last October, Mabel Aragon, a spokesperson for the county, said Bergen officials would be meeting with Essex County officials to determine what repairs should be made.
According to Aragon, the two county's officials haven't met yet. Bergen County has hired a firm, Mazur Consultants, to perform a feasibility study to determine how and whether to improve and possibly widen the bridge. Aragon said once the study has been performed, Bergen County officials will meet with Essex County officials to determine how to proceed.
State-owned bridges in the area include the Orient Way bridge over Route 3 which received a rating of 46, the Route 3 bridge over the Passaic River which received a rating of 41 and the Route 3 bridge into East Rutherford which received a rating of 21.
The NJDOT report estimated a need for $13.58 billion in bridge repairs and recommended the state increase its funding for bridge repair by $291 million per year, bringing the total funding for state bridges to $800 million per year. Greeley said that final numbers for this year were not yet available, but that the state planned $6 billion in investments in bridges over the next 10 years.
The NJDOT currently plans for the Route 3 Passaic River bridge to be replaced through a $219.818 million project spread out from 2009 to 2012. The project is being federally funded.
The state also plans to begin a $14 million renovation of the Park Avenue bridge over Route 3 connecting Rutherford and Lyndhurst. Rutherford's mayor and council have already approved for police officers from the department to help supervise traffic during the construction, which is slated to begin later this year.
