Oceanic Bridge Re-Opens, Between Middletown and Rumson

Update: The Oceanic Bridge between Middletown and Rumson re-opened to vehicular and pedestrian traffic on Wednesday, five days earlier than expected. 

As of early evening, all barriers and signage had been removed and traffic was traveling across the bridge.

Original report, Weds. 2 p.m. Monmouth County officials have confirmed that the Oceanic Bridge is close to being open to traffic.

"It is not open yet, but I'm cautiously optimistic," Monmouth County spokeswoman Laura Kirkpatrick said Wednesday afternoon. "I can't say for certain if it will be open to traffic today, but I do know that the engineers are now in the process of trying to get it open. There are some technical tests and adjustments that need to be done to first make sure that the bascule span (drawbridge section) is operating correctly."

Those things, she said, include working out timing issues with the safety gates and other dress rehearsal-type precursors to the bridge taking on traffic again.

Police, she said, have to be notified to be ready to remove barriers and signage and streamline such an opening, she said.

Rumson Police Chief Scott Paterson, however, said he knew nothing about the bridge opening, pending or in-process, and wasn't surprised.

"We wouldn't know until we actually saw cars drive over it," Paterson said. "The county's communication with us is not at all what it should be. We always seem to be the last to know these things. And we usually find out when out on patrol, rather than being notified in advance."

Paterson added that he would let the community know as soon as the bridge is open.

The bridge, which closed roughly two weeks ago for security upgrades, gate replacements and Hurricane Sandy-wrought damage, was expected to be closed until Jan. 28, though Kirkpatrick said the county was shooting for Friday.

The long-planned weeks-long closing came after a months-long shut-down during which major repairs to the historic art deco-style drawbridge that spans the Navesink River between Rumson and Middletown were completed in May.