Beesley's Point Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 39°17′33.9″N74°37′33.8″W / 39.292750°N 74.626056°W |
Carries | 2 lanes of US 9 |
Crosses | Great Egg Harbor Bay |
Maintained by | Cape May County Bridge Commission |
Characteristics | |
Design | Causeway |
Total length | 4,800 ft (1,500 m) |
History | |
Opened | June 16, 1928 [1] |
Closed | 2004 (demolished 2013–2016) |
Location | |
The Beesley's Point Bridge was a bridge in New Jersey, United States, that was built privately by the Ocean City Automobile Club in 1927. Completed in 1928, control of the bridge was acquired by the Beesley's Point Bridge Company. It was a toll bridge from its opening. Prior to its closing, it was best known for carrying U.S. Route 9 (US 9) over the Great Egg Harbor Bay, connecting Upper Township, in Cape May County to Somers Point in Atlantic County. Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway temporally concurred over the Beesley's Point Bridge from the Parkway's opening in 1954 until a separate bridge over the bay for the Parkway, the Great Egg Harbor Bridge, opened in 1955. [2]
Through the decades, the Beesley's Point Bridge Company became unable to fund repairs on the aging bridge. In 1997, the bridge company, in conjunction with private outside investors, secured a $1 million loan from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to fund the necessary improvements in exchange for a promise that they would continue to keep the bridge open until 2016. [3]
In 2004, the owners of the bridge broke that promise realizing that the repairs would cost many times more than the original estimate. As a result, the Company agreed to close the bridge and it closed to traffic on June 18, 2004.
After the bridge closed, US 9 was not rerouted, and as such was rendered incomplete. This remained unchanged until 2013, when the permanent US 9 was realigned to follow the decommissioned US 9 temporarys former routing to once again concur with the Garden State Parkway, allowing the direct connection of US 9 within the state boundaries of New Jersey for the first time since the bridges closure.
In 1928, the Ocean City Automobile Club financed the construction of the Beesley's Point Bridge, connecting Somers Point to Beesley's Point via the Great Egg Harbor Bay. [4]
In 2006, Hurricane Ernesto made Cape May County officials nervous because they lacked the use of the bridge as an additional evacuation route. As a result, Cape May County purchased the bridge from the Beesley's Point Bridge Company for $1 with the intent of rehabilitating it and opening it in 2012. [5] Several studies were commissioned regarding the feasibility of doing so, but Cape May County engineers concluded that significant rehabilitation would extend the bridge's life by no more than 15 years. Estimates of the price of rehabilitation varied, but it appeared that a lifespan of just 15 years on the investment would not be worth the cost.
The NJDOT planned to fund a project to rehabilitate the bridge to last at least to 2019 in their Statewide Transportation Program 2011-2019. [6]
Cape May County officials, including Jeff Van Drew, stated that bridge rehabilitation would begin in mid-2010 and the bridge would reopen to traffic in 2012. On June 28, 2010 a Press of Atlantic City article revealed that a previous crack in the existing deck had turned into a three-foot chasm. [7]
At the 7th Annual Cape May County Transportation Infrastructure Conference on February 22, 2011, it was announced that the bridge would be demolished but discussions were in the preliminary mode. Demolition of the bridge began in July 2013 in conjunction with a project that also replaced the Great Egg Harbor Bridge. [8]
On September 7, 2016 the toll bridge section caught fire. The last section of the bridge was demolished on November 18, 2016. [9]
The bridge carried two lanes of traffic for approximately 4,800 feet (1,500 m). The structure immediately north over the Drag Channel was a separate structure and is commonly referred to incorrectly as the same structure resulting in an erroneous 6,000-foot (1,800 m) total length.
The bridge contained 120 spans and had an 80-foot (24 m) double leaf bascule span that opened for maritime traffic. The official NJDOT Historic Bridge Survey states that the substructure had been heavily reconstructed. [10] The bascule span received modern controls and electrical systems during the rehabilitation. Access to the mechanical rooms were denied for the final bridge inspection, but topside inspection revealed that the bascule appears heavily altered and thus is not eligible for historic preservation.
U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States. It is one of only two U.S. Highways with a ferry connection ; the other is US 10. US 9 is signed east–west in Delaware and north–south on the rest of its route. The southern terminus of the route is in Laurel, Delaware, at an intersection with US 13, while the highway's northern terminus is at a junction with Interstate 87 (I-87) in Champlain, New York, where the old roadway continues north as the unsigned New York State Route 971B (NY 971B), which ends in a cul-de-sac just short of the Canadian border.
Route 50 is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It runs 26.02 mi (41.88 km) from an intersection with U.S. Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway in Upper Township, Cape May County, north to an intersection with US 30 and County Route 563 in Egg Harbor City, Atlantic County. The route, which is mostly a two-lane undivided road, passes through mostly rural areas of Atlantic and Cape May counties as well as the communities of Tuckahoe, Corbin City, Estell Manor, and Mays Landing. Route 50 intersects several roads, including Route 49 in Tuckahoe, US 40 in Mays Landing, and US 322 and the Atlantic City Expressway in Hamilton Township.
Route 52 is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway runs 2.74 mi (4.41 km) from 9th Street in Ocean City, Cape May County north to U.S. Route 9 in Somers Point, Atlantic County. It is composed mostly of a series of four-lane divided bridges over Great Egg Harbor Bay from Ocean City to Somers Point known as the Howard S. Stainton Memorial Causeway, also known as the Ninth Street Bridge. The remainder of the route is a surface road called MacArthur Boulevard that runs from the causeway to U.S. Route 9. This section of the route formerly included the Somers Point Circle, now a traffic light, where Route 52 intersects County Route 559 and County Route 585.
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Route 72 is a state highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It runs 28.74 mi (46.25 km) from the Four Mile Circle with Route 70 in Woodland Township in Burlington County to County Route 607 in Ship Bottom on Long Beach Island in Ocean County. Route 72 travels through the Pine Barrens as a two-lane undivided road. After an interchange with the Garden State Parkway, the route becomes a four- to six-lane divided highway through built-up areas of Manhawkin and crosses the Manahawkin Bay via the Manahawkin Bay Bridge onto Long Beach Island.
The Atlantic City Expressway, officially numbered, but unsigned, as Route 446 and abbreviated A.C. Expressway, ACE, or ACX, and known locally as the Expressway, is a 44.19-mile (71.12 km) controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of New Jersey, managed and operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA). It serves as an extension of the freeway part of Route 42 from Turnersville southeast to Atlantic City. The Atlantic City Expressway is signed as east-west, though the mileage and exits decrease as if one is travelling north-south. It connects Philadelphia and the surrounding Delaware Valley metropolitan area with Atlantic City and other Jersey Shore resorts, and also serves other South Jersey communities, including Hammonton and Mays Landing. The expressway intersects many major roads, including Route 73 in Winslow Township, Route 54 in Hammonton, Route 50 in Hamilton Township, the Garden State Parkway in Egg Harbor Township, U.S. Route 9 (US 9) in Pleasantville, and the Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector near the eastern terminus in Atlantic City.
The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access, tolled highway that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May north to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey's nickname, the "Garden State". The parkway has an unsigned reference number of Route 444 by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). At its north end, the road becomes the Garden State Parkway Connector, a component of the New York State Thruway system that connects to the Thruway mainline in Ramapo.
Ocean Drive is a series of local toll roads in southern New Jersey, connecting Atlantic City to Cape May along barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of several roads and includes all five drawbridges owned by the Cape May County Bridge Commission.
County Route 563 is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends 43.87 miles (70.60 km) from CR 629 in Margate City, Atlantic County north to Route 72 in Woodland Township, Burlington County. In Atlantic County, the road runs through a mix of suburban and rural areas, passing through Northfield, Egg Harbor Township, and Egg Harbor City. North of Egg Harbor City into Burlington County, CR 563 runs through the heavily forested Pine Barrens. Between Margate and Northfield, CR 563 runs along the Downbeach Express, a toll bridge that is maintained by Ole Hansen & Sons, Inc.
County Route 561 is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends 50.95 miles (82.00 km) from New York Road in Galloway Township to Federal Street in Camden.
County Route 559 is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends 30.84 miles (49.63 km) from the former Somers Point Circle at MacArthur Boulevard in Somers Point to Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton.
The Great Egg Harbor Bridge is a series of four bridges along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, with tolls collected in the southbound direction. It crosses the Great Egg Harbor Bay, connecting Upper Township, in Cape May County to Somers Point in Atlantic County. The bridge crosses over a section of Egg Harbor Township, and Drag Island. It has carried a portion of U.S. Route 9 since 2013.
U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a United States Numbered Highway in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, running from Laurel, Delaware, to Champlain, New York. In New Jersey, the route runs 166.80 miles (268.44 km) from the Cape May–Lewes Ferry terminal in North Cape May, Cape May County, where the ferry carries US 9 across the Delaware Bay to Lewes, Delaware, north to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, Bergen County, where the route along with Interstate 95 (I-95) and US 1 continue into New York City. US 9 is the longest U.S. Highway in the state.
U.S. Route 322 is a spur of U.S. Route 22, running from Cleveland, Ohio, east to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The easternmost segment of the route in New Jersey runs 62.64 miles (100.81 km) from the Commodore Barry Bridge over the Delaware River in Logan Township, Gloucester County, where it continues southeast to Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, Atlantic County. The portion of the route between the Commodore Barry Bridge and Route 42 in Williamstown is mostly a two-lane undivided road that is concurrently signed with County Route 536 (CR 536), passing through Mullica Hill and Glassboro. From Williamstown, US 322 follows the Black Horse Pike, a four-lane road, southeast to Atlantic City. In Hamilton Township, Atlantic County, US 322 forms a concurrency with U.S. Route 40, continuing with that route all the way to Atlantic City. US 322 intersects several major roads including U.S. Route 130 and Interstate 295 (I-295) in Logan Township, the New Jersey Turnpike in Woolwich Township, Route 55 in Harrison Township, Route 42 in Williamstown, Route 50 and U.S. Route 40 in Hamilton Township, the Garden State Parkway in Egg Harbor Township, and U.S. Route 9 in Pleasantville.
U.S. Route 40 is a U.S. highway running from Silver Summit, Utah east to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The easternmost segment of the route runs 64.32 miles (103.51 km) through the southern part of New Jersey between the Delaware Memorial Bridge over the Delaware River in Pennsville Township, Salem County, where it continues into Delaware along with Interstate 295 (I-295), east to Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, Atlantic County. The route passes through Salem, Gloucester, and Atlantic counties as well as the boroughs of Woodstown, Elmer, Newfield, and Buena. The route encounters a mix of rural, suburban, and urban environs throughout its journey across South Jersey.
Transportation in New Jersey utilizes a combination of road, rail, air, and water modes. New Jersey is situated between Philadelphia and New York City, two major metropolitan centers of the Boston-Washington megalopolis, making it a regional corridor for transportation. As a result, New Jersey's freeways carry high volumes of interstate traffic and products. The main thoroughfare for long distance travel is the New Jersey Turnpike, the nation's fifth-busiest toll road. The Garden State Parkway connects the state's densely populated north to its southern shore region. New Jersey has the 4th smallest area of U.S. states, but its population density of 1,196 persons per sq. mi causes congestion to be a major issue for motorists.
A total of at least three special routes of U.S. Route 9 (US 9) exist and at least seven have been decommissioned.
Great Egg Harbor Bay is a bay between Atlantic and Cape May counties along the southern New Jersey coast. The name derives from Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobsen May's description of the plentiful birds laying eggs, naming the waters Eyren Haven, which translates to Egg Harbor in English. The bay has a total area of 8.5 sq mi (22 km2). Its depth ranges from shallow waters in the southern extension, called Peck Bay, to a 33 ft (10 m) deep channel.
The Winant Avenue Bridge is a vehicular movable bridge spanning the Hackensack River in Bergen County, New Jersey 14 miles (23 km) from its mouth at Newark Bay. Built in 1934, it is also known as the Route 46 Hackensack River Bridge and S46 Bridge, it carries U.S. Route 46 (US 46) in Little Ferry and Ridgefield Park. Owned and operated by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), the double leaf bascule bridge is located on a navigable reach. While there have been no requests since 1978, the Code of Federal Regulations last amended in 1999 requires 24-hour notice to be opened. The bridge has been minimally altered since its construction and is eligible for individual listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
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