County begins study of Centerton Road Bridge replacement

The issue of replacing Centerton Road Bridge has persistently dogged county officials ever since it was closed five years ago after severe structural damage was discovered.

MOUNT LAUREL — There’s little left of Centerton Road Bridge.

Demolition on the over century-old metal swing bridge started last month and appears to have progressed rapidly. All that’s left protruding from the water are just a few pieces of rusted steel and concrete abutments. In a few months those remnants will likely be gone, too.

While most of the demolition work on the bridge is expected to be completed by March, the job of determining whether a new span — of any kind — will rise across the water is really just getting started.

County officials acknowledged as much Thursday night during an information session about the new feasibility study being prepared on the concept of rebuilding the bridge as a smaller pedestrian and bicycle bridge.

“It (the study) doesn’t mean that the bridge will be rebuilt. We’re just getting information,” said Mary Pat Robbie, director of the county’s Department of Resource Conservation, told the eight residents who attended the meeting. “Any information gathered will be passed on to the decision-makers. Rest assured, no final decision has been made.”

Yet.

The county Board of Freeholders previously decided to move forward with studying the possibility of building a pedestrian bridge rather than trying to replace the old span with a new modern bridge capable of handling motor-vehicle traffic.

At the time, the five-member board was controlled by three Republicans and the board’s two Democrats — Tom Pullion and Balvir Singh — expressed some skepticism about the potential high cost of rebuilding the bridge for motor vehicles and the necessity of a pedestrian span.

Democrats took over the majority last year and expressed a willingness to revisit the idea of rebuilding the bridge for motor vehicles. But they also voted to move forward with the pedestrian bridge study, which is being funded with a $70,000 grant from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

The Democrats said the more-detailed study of the pedestrian bridge could help better inform them for their future decision and that the information and engineering work performed for that study could also prove useful if the board decides to pursue a bridge capable of holding cars and light trucks.

Robbie reiterated that point Thursday night.

“We’re looking at the feasibility of a pedestrian bridge. But that doesn’t mean the information we collect can’t be fed into developing a vehicular bridge,” she said, adding that doing so would require much more extensive environmental and engineering studies.

Engineering and architecture firm, PS&S Integrated Services, was awarded the contract to perform the feasibility study and two of the firm’s associates attended the information session. But it was the eight residents who showed up who did most of the talking on issues ranging from the desire for fishing stations on a new bridge to motor-boat traffic on the creek and the traffic impact on local roads and Interstate 295 since the bridge’s 2015 closure.

Others asked about the county’s plans for the former Rowan property, which is adjacent to the now demolished bridge on the Westampton side of the Rancocas Creek. The county acquired the 83-acre property in 2007 for $4.5 million and intends to develop a county park there.

Still, most of the discussion continued to surround whether a pedestrian bridge or a larger vehicular crossing should be built.

The issue has divided residents in the area, with some lobbying for the freeholders to rebuild the bridge for cars, arguing that the loss of the crossing has hurt businesses, impacted quality of life and forced many residents to deal with traffic on I-295, which is now the main route to cross the Rancocas between Willingboro, Westampton and Mount Laurel.

Others have said the loss of the bridge has reduced traffic in their neighborhood and that rebuilding it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.

A prior study of the issue put the cost of a building a modern, fixed span for vehicle and pedestrian traffic at around $25 million compared to a pedestrian and bicycle-only crossing cost of $5.5 million. Rebuilding another swing-span capable of moving to make way for marine traffic on the creek would cost at least $37 million, the study said.

Lori Howard and Victoria Cuneo both advocated for rebuilding the bridge for vehicles and questioned the previous cost estimates, with Cuneo arguing that if motorboats aren’t permitted in that area of the creek that the bridge could likely be rebuilt at a lower height at less of an expense.

“I just feel $37 million is obviously an outrageous sum,” the Moorestown resident said.

The engineers responded that whether this area of the Rancocas is still considered marine navigable by the U.S. Coast Guard would be part of the new feasibility study’s analysis.

New cost estimates for building a pedestrian-only span would also be included that reflected different designs and options for materials and size, the engineers said. No cost estimates for a vehicular bridge will be included.

“Our study is going to stay focused on a pedestrian bridge,” said Kyle Rutherford, an associate with PS&S. “We’re not going to comment on (not rebuilding) or vehicular (bridge).”

Mount Laurel Mayor Irwin Edelson said the county needs to address existing traffic logjams in the area before moving forward with any bridge reconstruction.

“My concern is traffic,” the mayor said. “The traffic that’s going on at Creek and Centerton Road and Masonville Road now is unbearable now at rush hour. So if you open up that bridge to cars and not fix the traffic problem you have now, you’re just feeding the fire. That’s why I’m here. A pedestrian bridge? I’m for.”

Others also expressed support for keeping a replacement span small and open solely to walkers, cyclists and anglers.

“The bass fishing is so great in that area,” said Brian Parker, of Mount Holly.

Howard, who resides in Mount Laurel, said an analysis should be undertaken that looks at how many residents would use and benefit from a pedestrian bridge versus those who would use a motor-vehicle bridge.

“I really feel communities are being segregated,” Howard said during the meeting. “For me there’s the perception that you don’t want people from the Willingboro side on the Mount Laurel side.”

Traffic across the 312-foot bridge averaged about 14,000 vehicles a day before the it closed and officials have said the prior study indicated that traffic impacts on I-295 since the closure were minimal.

“Where did all that traffic go?” asked Moorestown resident Chris Salvatico. “I guess I don’t buy that it’s not affecting traffic on 295.”

The meeting was the first of two information sessions planned for the feasibility study. The second session is expected to be held sometime this summer once conceptual drawings and plans are completed. Afterward a final report will be written and presented to the freeholders, officials said.

Cuneo and Howard said they planned to continue encouraging the freeholder board to take a deeper look at rebuilding a bridge for vehicles before making a final decision.

“We have a lot of support for a vehicular bridge,” Cuneo said. “We’re not looking for something like the New Jersey Turnpike; the smaller, the quainter the better.”