NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit’s board of directors has awarded the construction project for the lift portion of the new Raritan River Bridge, which will replace a 116-year-old swing bridge on its North Jersey Coast Line.
Skanska Koch Inc. of Carteret, N.J., was selected for the project. The contract is worth a maximum of $444.4 million, plus 5% for contingencies. This is the second contract awarded for the bridge replacement; George Harris Construction received a contract in 2020 for bridge approach spans and related work.
The current bridge is the sole rail link for 17 of the 20 stations on the North Jersey Coast Line. It sustained significant damage during 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, requiring repairs that shut the line down for three weeks.
“Today’s Board authorization advances one of NJ Transit’s most critical resiliency projects, ensuring a more reliable and robust rail link for thousands of daily customers on the North Jersey Coast Line,” NJ Transit CEO Kevin S. Corbett said in a press release, adding that the new structure will significantly enhance “both operational efficiency and our preparedness for extreme weather events.”
The bridge replacement, estimated to cost $595 million as of 2020, is being funded in part by Federal Transit Administration grant of more than $446 million. More on the project is available here.
BNSF still operates a railroad owned swing bridge in Fort Madison, Iowa built in 1927. It is a double deck toll bridge with highway traffic on top and the BNSF’s transcontinental main line below. Sixty to 70 trains a day cross the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa. I have not seen any reports of plans to replace the bridge. You can see it operate on You Tube’s Fort Madison Virtual Railfan streaming channel. River traffic has the right of way due to Coast Guard regulations. You can often see BNSF trains waiting for a towboat with barges to clear.
This is the electrified bridge between Perth Amboy and South Amboy that was used by the GG1’s pulling NJT’s North Jersey Coast trains.
As to bridge types, a swing bridge is a big turntable, of which RR’s knew a lot. Some were hand-cranked. Problem was the channel was less than half the length of the bridge.
With a lift bridge, the channel can be a little less than the length of the bridge, but you have to provide adequate overhead clearance.
You don’t see too many new Bascule RR bridges either.
There are certainly a lot of swing bridges that are being replaced by other types. Does anyone know of a swing bridge being replaced by another swing bridge?