Here Are The Crumbling Bridges In NJ's 3rd Congressional District

There are 44 structurally deficient bridges in New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes parts of Ocean and Burlington counties.

Among the most heavily traveled: The Route 130 bridge over Pompeston Creek in Cinnaminson, the Route 166 bridge over the Toms River, and the Route 72 bridge over East Thorofare and Manahawkin Bay. The Route 130 bridge sees 67,990 daily, the Route 166 bridge has more than 27,000 crossings daily, and the Route 72 bridge has more than 26,000 daily as well.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, published its annual bridge report Monday. The group ranked New Jersey 23rd worst in the nation for percent of structurally deficient bridges.

Here’s what they found for the Third Congressional District:

• Total bridges: 598
• Structurally deficient bridges: 44
• Percent of bridges that are structurally deficient: 7.4
• Number of bridges in need of repair: 155
• Cost to repair those bridges: $409.9 million

The 2019 bridge report found there are more than 47,000 bridges rated “structurally deficient” and in urgent need of repairs. Americans cross these bridges — which were built an average of 62 years ago — 178 million times a day.

“If placed end-to-end, they would stretch nearly 1,100 miles — the distance between Chicago and Houston,” the report stated.

While that number may sound like a lot, the total number of structurally deficient bridges has fallen by about 1 percentage point since 2014 to 7.6 percent. And it would take decades to repair them all.

“At this rate, it would take over 80 years to make the significant repairs needed on these structures,” the report stated.

Some of the notable bridges deemed structurally deficient include:

• New York’s Brooklyn Bridge
• Memorial Bridge connecting Washington, D.C. with Arlington, Virginia
• San Mateo-Hayward bridge crossing California’s San Francisco Bay – the longest bridge in the state.
• Robert S. Maestri Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana
• Albemarle Sound Bridge and the Lindsay C. Warren Bridge crossing the Alligator River in North Carolina
• Florida’s Pensacola Bay Bridge
• Vicksburg Bridge in Mississippi
• Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge in Washington state

Rhode Island had the highest percentage of structurally deficient bridges at 23 percent. West Virginia, Iowa, South Dakota and Pennsylvania rounded out the top five.

According to the Federal Highway Administration’s website, the definition of structurally deficient was changed in 2018. The new definition limits the classification to bridges where one key structural element, such as the deck, superstructure, substructure or culverts, was rated in poor or worse condition. All of the data above, including those for previous years, uses the new definition.

Here are the most-traveled bridges in the 3rd District that are structurally deficient:

OCEAN COUNTY

• BRIDGE, year built, daily trips
• Route 166 over North Channel of Toms River, 1928, 27,186
• Route 72 over East Thorofare, Manahawkin, 1958, 26,137
• Roue 166 over South Channel of Toms River, 1928, 26,131
• Route 72 over Manahawkin Bay, 1958, 25,619
• Route 9 over Waretown Creek, 1925, 19,800
• Route 88 over Beaver Dam Creek, 1923, 18,677
• Route 72 over West Thorofare, U Turn, 1958, 16,440
• Bay Avenue over Mill Creek, 1929, 12,557

BURLINGTON COUNTY

• BRIDGE, year built, daily trips
• Route 130 over Pompeston Creek, Cinnaminson, 1925, 67,990
• Route 130 over Crosswicks Creek, Bordentown, 1928, 24,737
• Route 130 Southbound over Assiscunk Creek, Burlington Township, 1935, 22,443
• Tuckerton Road/County Route 620 over Haynes Creek, Medford, 1972, 18,399
• Route 537 over North Branch Pennsauken Creek, 1900, 16,830
• Route 537 over Mason Creek, 1941, 16,010
• Centerton Road/County Route 635 over Rancocas Creek, 1909, 14,305
• Hanover St (Cr 616) over N. Branch Rancocas Creek, 1932, 12,538
• Route 70 over Mount Misery Brook, 1931, 12,245
• Route 206 Northbound over Crosswicks Creek, 1941, 11,000
• Route 206 SB over Crosswicks Creek, 1924, 9,894
• Route 9 over Jobs Creek, 1922, 9,442
• County Route 543 over Pompeston Creek, 1934, 9,338
• Monmouth Road/County Route 537 over Barkers Brook, Jobstown, 1912, 8,790
• Route 206 over Springers Brook, 1929, 8,690
• Monmouth Road/County Route 537 over Annaricken Brook, 1949, 8,396
• Centerton Road over Parkers Creek, 1906, 8,250

"America’s bridge network is outdated, underfunded and in urgent need of modernization," said Alison Premo Black, the organization’s chief economist who conducted the analysis. "State and local governments just haven’t been given the necessary resources to get the job done."

The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group encourages strong federal investment in transportation infrastructure.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.