Ways To Prevent Crashes At Historic Cherry Hill Bridge Discussed

CHERRY HILL, NJ — The Scarborough Covered Bridge in Cherry Hill needs a mechanism to alert vehicles that might be too high or too wide to safely cross it, multiple residents said recently.

Joanne Mitchell, a Cherry Hill resident at the township council's Aug. 16 meeting, said July's crash was the second to occur at the covered bridge this year.

Cherry Hill resident Rick Short suggested the township buy an early warning system for the bridge.

"There are ones that can [determine] the height of the truck coming at them," he said. Trucks that are over the bridge's height limit then "cause all kinds of lights to go off before the truck hits the bridge."

Mitchell told the council that a device like the one Short described may take away from the "beauty of the neighborhood and the historic look of the covered bridge."

She suggested closing Covered Bridge Road to all commercial traffic.

Another suggestion — putting "overhead warning bars on vehicular approaches to the bridge" — was posted on the Facebook page of Preserve Barclay, a group of volunteers dedicated to preserving the aesthetics of the Cherry Hill neighborhood where the Covered Bridge resides.

The township council appreciates and understands the importance of the bridge, said Cherry Hill Council Vice President Brian Bauerle at the Aug. 16 meeting.

Therefore, keeping the covered bridge in place "is important to all of us," he said. "Hopefully, we can continue to preserve that bridge," he said.

The covered bridge is said to be one of only two covered bridges still open to vehicular traffic in New Jersey.

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