AASHTO Journal, 23 January 2015
New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox has ordered a statewide review of about 600 structurally deficient bridges, and warned local officials that he could stop payments to them from a tapped-out state Transportation Trust Fund.
A spokesman said Fox delivered the news while meeting Jan. 20 with local officials. Fox told them unless the state fund is replenished he would not release any local aid from it starting July 1, and will review its grants until then, the spokesman said. Some local reports described the announcement as freezing NJDOT payments to municipal governments.
The bridges review, the aide said, came after New Jersey had to close two bridges so far this year over safety concerns – one in Dover and one in Franklin Township – and after the collapse of a bridge section over Interstate 75 in Ohio left one worker dead and a truck driver injured from falling debris. Fox told officials that the I-75 bridge incident was also a “wake-up call,” the spokesman said.
That I-75 bridge in Cincinnati was reportedly undergoing demolition preparations when it fell onto the highway Jan. 19. In New Jersey, the Department of Transportation closed a Dover bridge Jan. 12 and the other on Jan. 16.
When closing the Franklin bridge, the NJDOT said tractor trailers weighing 40 tons had crossed the structure that was weight-limited to 14 tons, causing “unsafe and excessive movement of the superstructure.” Fox said repairs could open it by the end of February.
