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« on: May 09, 2011, 11:30:01 PM »
Hackensack bridge work on schedule
Monday, May 9, 2011
Last updated: Monday May 9, 2011, 6:52 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
The Record
STAFF WRITER
HACKENSACK — The rehabilitation of the Court Street Bridge is nearing its halfway point, with work on the century-old swing span expected to continue through the fall, officials said.
"We're pretty much on schedule and on budget," said Bergen County Engineer Robert Mulder, adding that Bergen County hopes to have the bridge open to vehicular traffic by Christmas.
It has been decades since the Court Street Bridge swung into position to allow barges to float up the Hackensack River. But once the rehabilitation is completed, the bridge, which links Hackensack and Bogota, will swing again, Mulder said.
Plans call for an adjoining facility to house the bridge's electronic controls.
The county and the federal government announced plans to rehabilitate the 89-foot-long span last year. All but $2 million of the $19.2 million cost is being financed by President Obama's 2010 stimulus package.
Workers first built a wooden, makeshift bridge on site to support construction cranes. Then they removed the bridge's two trusses and demolished the five support structures — two abutments, two rest piers and the center pivot pier — that held the span in place. Those structures are currently being replaced, Mulder said.
Crews from Hackensack construction company Creamer Sanzari have driven in steel piles to fortify each support and concrete is being poured to create the two new abutments and the three piers.
A motor will be installed on the center pier so the bridge can swing to allow for passing vessels.
Once completed, the bridge will have a new deck of galvanized steel and painted "flint gray" — the color when the bridge opened in 1908.
While the project is on pace for a December opening, Mulder said there's no guarantee the work will be completed by then.
"That's what we're shooting for," he said. "We're not planning on [the project continuing beyond December] but things happen. It is an old structure, after all, and there's some work that is going to be required because of things we didn't foresee."
E-mail: harrisc@northjersey.com
It sounds all well and good, but what's the point of having a swing bridge that accommodates taller watercraft, when there are railroad tracks and the Midtown Bridge just north of it that don't swing open?
Maybe they built it just so The Ling can get out.
Here's a picture I took from behind Pep Boys looking north. Court Street is in the foreground, with the Susquehanna tracks and the Midtown Bridge behind it.
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