Monmouth County and power company employees worked through the late afternoon to try to restore power to the Oceanic Bridge. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
The Oceanic Bridge, which connects Rumson and Middletown over the Navesink River, lost power Tuesday afternoon and is closed to traffic until further notice, the Monmouth County Engineering Office said.
The bridge, which has been under a weight restriction since late 2009, lost power while in the upright position at about 3 p.m., a release from the county said.
Workers were able to manually lower the bascule span of the bridge the drawbridge portion but the span remained closed to traffic Tuesday evening because there was no power to operate the bridge.
Jersey Central Power & Light is working to restore power. It is unknown when the bridge may reopen to traffic.
Meantime, the county suggests the following detours:
In Middletown, motorists traveling to Red Bank should use Navesink River Road; motorists traveling to Sea Bright should use Locust Point Road to Locust Avenue to Navesink Avenue to Route 36.
In Rumson, motorists traveling to Red Bank should use River Road East to Front Street; motorists traveling to Sea Bright should use Bingham Avenue(County Route 8A) to Rumson Road (County Route 520) to Ocean Avenue.
