The Great Egg Harbor Bridge is a series of four

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s along the

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, with

toll Toll may refer to: Transportation * Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway ** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use ** Road toll (historic) The road toll was a historical fee charged to travellers and ...

s collected in the southbound direction. It crosses the

Great Egg Harbor Bay Great Egg Harbor Bay (or Great Egg Harbor) is a bay between Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic and Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May counties along the southern New Jersey coast. The name derives from Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobsen May's ...

, connecting Upper Township, in

Cape May County Cape May County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Much of the county is located on Cape May bound by Delaware Bay to its west and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and east. Adjacent to the Atlantic coastline are fiv ...

Somers Point Somers Point is a city that is the oldest settlement in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was settled by Europeans in 1693 and was incorporated as a borough in 1886. Somers Point was incorporated as a city in 1902. As of the 2 ...

Atlantic County Atlantic County is a county located along the southern coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county had a population of 274,534.Egg Harbor Township Egg Harbor Township is a township in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The U.S. Census Bureau in the 2020 census reported the population as 47,842, an increase of 4,519 over the 43,323 counted in the previous decade in the 2010 ...

, and Drag Island. It carries a portion of U.S. Route 9. The

Beesley's Point Generating Station The B.L. England Generating Station, also called Beesley's Point Generating Station, was a power plant in Upper Township, Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, on the Great Egg Harbor River. The facility provided approximately 450 megawatts ...

can be seen from the bridge.

Description

The

is a tolled

limited-access highway A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

that serves as the primary route connecting the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...

to points north and south in

. Upper Township in

connects with

via the Great Egg Harbor Bridge on the Parkway. This bridge first crosses over Harbor Road, which is the last street in Beesley's Point, connecting homes along

and Peck Bay to U.S. Route 9. The bridge then crosses Great Egg Harbor Bay to Drag Island, which it crosses as a causeway. A small portion of the bridge enters

Egg Harbor Township Egg Harbor Township is a township in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The U.S. Census Bureau in the 2020 census reported the population as 47,842, an increase of 4,519 over the 43,323 counted in the previous decade in the 2010 ...

. Another bridge crosses Drag Channel to the mainland of

Atlantic County Atlantic County is a county located along the southern coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county had a population of 274,534. As with the rest of the Garden State Parkway, the bridge is a component of the National Highway System, a network of roadways that are important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility. The bridge carries two lanes of traffic in each direction. The bridge is used heavily in the summertime, peaking on Saturdays.

History

GSP NB Beesley Point bridge closure sign

In 1952, the

New Jersey Highway Authority The New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) is a state agency responsible for maintaining the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, which are two toll roads in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The agency is headquartered in Woodbridge Town ...

(NJHA) was created to facilitate the construction of the Garden State Parkway. In October 1954, the NJHA received bids for constructing a bridge crossing the Great Egg Harbor Bay, beginning at Beesley's Point, as well as a bridge crossing Drag Channel. The bridges would be linked by a causeway, and form a part of the Garden State Parkway. In construction, the bridge project utilized 140

prestressed concrete Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially "prestressed" ( compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-tensioned concreted i ...

beams, each in length, at a cost of $640 each (1954

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

). The project also used a concrete deck at the cost of less than $2 per ft². On May 26, 1956, the Great Egg Harbor Bridge opened at a cost of $4.5 million, completing the Garden State Parkway. The bridge carried traffic in both directions, but soon was unable to accommodate the increasing traffic. A parallel bridge carrying northbound traffic was opened in 1972. In 1999, the northbound span was closed for seven weeks after cracks were found in the steel hangars. In 2000, after cracking was found in the steel supports on the southbound bridge, construction crews made emergency repairs at the cost of $900,000 (2000 USD). Before the Great Egg Harbor Bridge was completed, traffic on the Garden State Parkway was detoured onto US 9 and the

Beesley's Point Bridge 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 br ...

. This old alignment no longer exists today.

Reconstruction

A 2002 study by the NJDOT Bridge Management System indicated that both the northbound and southbound bridges over Great Egg Harbor were structurally deficient, and the crossing of Drag Channel was

functionally obsolete The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) is a database, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, with information on all bridges and tunnels in the United States that have roads passing above or below them. That is similar to the grade-crossing ...

. A traffic study in 2004 identified poor pavement on the bridge. To address the structural deficiency along substandard roadway, and to maintain a proper evacuation route, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) proposed a replacement bridge as early as 2010. The NJTA worked with the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

as the lead federal agency for the project due to the crossing over a navigable roadway. The proposed project would construct a new southbound bridge, wide enough to carry traffic in both directions in the event of an emergency, as well as carrying a multi-use pedestrian and bike path from US 9 in Somers Point to Harbor Road. Included in the project was demolishing the

, built in 1928, and closed to traffic in June 2004 due to damage. On September 20, 2012, the NJTA held a public meeting in Upper Township about the proposed bridge. In March 2013, the NJTA awarded Route 52 Constructors a $129.8 million (2013 USD) contract to build the southbound replacement bridge, and demolish the Beesley's Point Bridge. These were the same contractors to build the second phase of the

New Jersey Route 52 Route 52 is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway runs from 9th Street in Ocean City, Cape May County north to U.S. Route 9 (New Road) in Somers Point, Atlantic County. It is composed mostly of a se ...

replacement bridge, between Somers Point and Ocean City. Demolition of the Beesley's Point Bridge began in June 2013, and construction of the replacement southbound Parkway bridge began that September, west of the existing bridge. Hardesty & Hanover, LLP designed the new crossing. The bridge was supported by 20

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

with 3

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s each, using prestressed concrete beams. This created a wider channel than the original 1954 bridge. To test the performance of the pilings, the crew performed the first statnamic load test in the state of New Jersey. Construction crews worked to avoid disrupting migratory bird and fish species. In August 2016, the new southbound bridge opened, and in November of that year, the last part of the Beesley's Point Bridge was dismantled. The project ultimately cost $142.9 million. US 9 is now routed onto the Great Egg Harbor Bridge, as well. In July 2016, the NJTA awarded a $49.8 million contract to rehabilitate the northbound span and demolish the old southbound bridge. The road project was completed in May 2019. On July 8, 2020, a bike and walking path opened on the southbound span, connecting Beesley's Point with US 9 in Somers Point. The northern portion in Somers Point required bikers and walkers to navigate traffic entering and exiting the Parkway, although there were plans to connect the path with the Somers Point Bike Path along US 9 and Somers Point–Mays Landing Road.

References

External links

NYCRoads.com Garden State Parkway
{{New Jersey Turnpike Authority Toll bridges in New Jersey Bridges in Atlantic County, New Jersey Transportation buildings and structures in Cape May County, New Jersey Road bridges in New Jersey Garden State Parkway U.S. Route 9 Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Causeways in the United States

Description

History

Reconstruction

See also

References

External links