The Bridges of Middlesex County

The Bridges of Middlesex County

November 17, 2008, 3:04 pm
Filed under: New Jersey | Tags: bridges, rivers, state highways, Thomas Edison, Victory!

There are some who would suggest that this post represents the bottom of the barrel, wedged in a deep, dark corner of the hold in a rotting 17th-century ship schooner the ocean floor, having been captained by a long-forgotten Finnish miser pirate, who’s only succesful heist before said ship took its leave to the remote depths of the Southern Indian Ocean (he was a sucker for curry) was the aforementioned barrel containing this post. But to them, I say poo poo. My sincerest concern, in fact, is that this idea is instead the pinnacle of my blogging career, and that it’s all down-current from here. Without further ado:

12. Route 18 over the South River/Bordentown Turnpike: This is actually my least favorite bridge in the county, but for reasons that bear mentioning. There are multiple locations along Route 18 in East Brunswick where the divided state highway, built in the ’50s, clearly breaks up what used to be a local road. But the saddest is on the Old Bridge border, where instead of simply splitting the Bordentown Turnpike in two, it rises to pass over it, as well as the rapidly widening South River as it spits its way north toward the Raritan. There are a small handful of aging-if-not-obsolete shops in the shadow of the overpass, and nothing represents the high toll the area has paid for the throroughfare, from the ghosts of Burnet Street in New Brunswick to the halved East Brunswick neighborhood near the swooping, offset overpasses of Cranbury and Milltown roads. (On a lighter note, this point is a stone’s throw from my apartment, and usually represents the first point my girlfriend even recognizes on drives home.)

11. Basilone Bridge: Carrying the Turnpike over the Raritan River, the Basilone is a bland, listless bridge that you’re bound to overlook if you cross it at night. Maybe its the abundance of lanes, maybe its the placement at that perfect spot on the river where New Brunswick is out of visual reach, and the only geographical markers are the faux skyline of the omnipresent Turnpike buildings and the nondescript lowlands of greater Sayreville off to the southeast. Unfortunately, the bridge is too efficient, too well-built, too seamlessly blended into either riverbank. That’s great if you’re the engineer who built it, but not so great if you’re a bridge afficianado.

10. Albany Street Bridge: Connecting Albany Street in New Brunswick with Main Street Highland Park via Route 27, this is an understated but elegant drive, though it’s currently under construction. It was dual walkways (huge bonus), and offers decent, though not through views of both towns as you cross.

9. Lynch Memorial Bridge: This bridge, which lifts Route 18 over the Raritan between New Brunswick and Piscataway and serves as one of the main links between Rutgers’ campuses on either side of the river, would be higher on this list (it’s fast, it’s efficient, it has a gentle curve to it and a pedestrian/bike path along the southbound side!), except it crosses a part of the Raritan that tends to flood when it rains too much and dries up when it doesn’t rain enough. In between, it’s usually has a sad brown hue with a matching odor. Although once in a bleu moon, the river and the trees lining the Piscataway side come together to shine in the setting sun, but on your typical Monday morning bus ride to class, it’s a unmitigated disaster.

8. Northeast Corridor Bridge over Easton Avenue: Abutting the New Brunswick Train Station, this overpass makes this list on looks more than anything. It is bestowed with a harsh and stoic stone face, as it delivers an effervescent stream of water droplets to the sidewalks below. It’s a bit of a pedestrian adventure to cross underneath, despite not inspiring a second thought from those training over it. But perhaps its most useful quality is the spiral staircase across from the flower shop, which offers a good view of the Albany Street as it streaks up toward Highland Park. There is a mural across the wall of Baskin Robbins inside the train station that offers the same shot as seen by some anonymous early 20th century photographer, and comparing the two is a worthwhile endeavor.

7. New Jersey Turnpike over Hightstown-Cranbury Station Road: Perhaps no entry in this list provides a more striking argument to differentiate between “bridge” and “overpass,” but for my purposes, it makes the cut. Hightstown-Cranbury Station Road, following in the great roadway nomenclature tradition of New Jersey, runs between a back street of Hightstown to Route 615 in Cranbury Station. At its northern end, it runs through what appears to be a small abandoned hamlet, and just before reaching a small apartment complex at its southern reaches, mingles with old warehouses that, like any of a number of classical optical illusions, fluctuate in the mind’s eye between apparent disuse and the unseemly occupancy. In the middle of these two endpoints, the road slips under the might Turnpike, beneath an overpass that honestly borders on tunnel, or at least viaduct. It is bracketed by forgotten train track and a conga line of sandy pillars, which almost certainly shelter a vagabond or two from the occasional passing car. It is both creepy and alluring, something no other structure (classical bridge or otherwise) on this list can claim.

6. Route 535 over the South River: This isn’t the most well-traveled bridge in the county, but if you begin to explore the borough of South River, eventually you’ll spit out the back across this bridge and into Sayreville. It’s surprisingly long as it rises over the marshy ground you’ll find sprinkled across the Raritan Bay area, and for just a brief moment, whisks you away from the heavily suburbanized area as you look up and downstream, and gives you a glimpse of undeveloped Central Jersey.

5. Goodkind bridges: Named in honor of everyone’s favorite architect father-son combo, Morris and Donald, either half of this family affair carries one direction of Route 1 across the Raritan River between the Brunswicks and Edison. Unlike the Basilone Bridge, these spans allow a snapshot view of rising downtown New Brunswick, although you do need to look upstream a ways, meaning you’re likely to go caroming into another lane at 70 miles-an-hour if you aren’t careful. The most redeeming quality of these two bridges is the stretch of Route 1 they represent. Between the freeway portions of the U.S. highway in Trenton and Elizabeth/Newark, drivers have to maneuver through 40 miles of heavy traffic and suffocating stop lights. But for some inexplicable reason, there is a forgiving respite between Route 130 in North Brunswick and Route 529 in Edison that is roughly bisected by the Raritan. The speed and flow of these precious miles carries through the gentle curves leading up and over the bridge.

4. Route 35 over Cheesequake Creek: There aren’t many place in New Jersey where you can get a nice, clean view of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, but as you cross between Sayreville and Old Bridge, you’ll surprisingly find one. The angle’s a little shallow, giving you a somewhat distorted view that doesn’t really capture the length of the bridge, but still, it’s something you probably didn’t expect to see as you run along the southern shores of Raritan Bay. You can also check out the Outerbridge Crossing and Staten Island to the north, while a minor marina is nestled along the creek to the south, giving you the first indication that you’re encroaching on the Jersey Shore if you’re traveling southbound.

3. Local road bridges over Garden State Parkway: Being the poor schmuck I am, the occasions where I’m traveling with spare dollar bills in my pocket are few and far between. As such, the Turnpike is rarely the best option to abscond to Jersey City to visit my girlfriend, so I usually scuffle over to the Parkway and take the the slightly wider course and then cut back in along either Route 22 or I-78. Luckily, this is my favorite part of the freeway, as it is the original 11-mile piece that hearkens back to the original Route 4 designation that has been all-but-trashed and chopped to a short North Jersey route. The internal number for the Parkway is Route 444 in honor of this, and because it predates the rest of the road, the stretch from Route 1 (Exit 129) to Route 22 (Exit 140) remains toll-free and features some gorgeous architecture on the overpasses throughout. There are only a couple in Middlesex County, but they are just as breathtaking as those in Union County. Along with the trees running alongside the shoulders and the comfortably wide grassy median, these bridges somehow allow the Parkway to live up to its name even as it digs deeper into the urban northeast.

2. Driscoll/Edison Bridge Agglomeration: In most respects, this mountain of concrete and pavement soaring across the near-mouth of the Raritan is easily the superlative of county bridges. Technically, there are four spans, but honestly, as you approach on either the Parkway or Route 9 from either direction, you don’t see four bridges as much as you just sit in awe. For you sticklers of details, we’re talking about the dual-span, 12-lane Driscoll Bridge (both directions of the Parkway), the once-renamed, three-lane Veiser Memorial Bridge (Route 9 southbound) and the un-renamed, widowed, three-lane Edison Bridge (Route 9 northbound). Add that up, you get 18 total lanes, plus four shoulders for the Route 9 bridges, and there is currently construction on the Driscoll that will add three more lanes, pushing the total to 21. That’s insane. You have a great view of a huge portion of Middlesex County, from the Turnpike Buildings in East Brunswick to the Northeast Corridor wires buzzing through New Brunswick and Edison to the hotels of Raritan Center to the Outerbridge Crossing landing in the neighborhoods of Perth Amboy. You can see water towers sprinkled to the south in Old Bridge and Sayreville, and the northern shore of South Amboy. Quite impressive, although there’s one view it doesn’t have …

1. Victory Bridge: And that’s the view of itself. For everything you can see from the Driscoll/Edison Agglomeration, to cross the river a few hundred feet downstream on Route 35 is to get a clean look at the agglomeration in its full glory. You can still see the Amboys and the Atlantic Highlands and the Outerbridge Crossing, although any views to the west are obscured by the Driscoll/Edison. Still, the Victory Bridge is a bit prettier, with obelisks and eaglettes standing guard at either side, and features pedestrian walkways (!), albeit this seems to lead to people constantly jumping off. The best part is that local roads provide easy access to the Victory Bridge, meaning you can — without much effort — bypass the Driscoll/Edison in favor of Middlesex County’s No. 1 Bridge. Sign me up.

~ beet

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