Well, there’s one way to cool off in the sweltering heat and humidity: go topless. And for less-than-attentive truck drivers, the North Jersey Coast Line trestle at Hubbard’s Bridge in Red Bank stands ready to accommodate, as it did yet again early Monday afternoon. It was not immediately known if the man at right was the driver. (Photo by Ken Kalada. Click to enlarge.)
The Red Bank clay courts during Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012, above. Below, a truck stuck under the West Front Street railroad trestle last week. (Photos by Peter Lindner and Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Tennis enthusiasts pelted the Red Bank council over the lack of progress on rebuilding the town’s cherished clay courts Wednesday night.
At its bimonthly meeting – conducted over the loud hum of temporary air conditioners while the borough hall HVAC system gets an upgrade – the governing body also took up issues ranging from the vexing train trestle on West Front Street to beagle rights.
An NJ Transit worker looks on as a colleague unjams a rental truck from beneath the West Front Street rail trestle Saturday evening.
Yep, it happened again. More →
The first few cars of eastbound traffic head toward Red Bank over the the new West Front Street bridge between Red Bank and Middletown Monday morning. Below, Red Bank Marina owner Steve Remaley with Red Bank Councilman Mike DuPont. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Slightly over budget but on time, the new West Front Street bridge linking Red Bank and Middletown opened Monday morning, replacing a clanging “temporary” structure amid forecasts that it might last for 75 or more years.
Though cosmetic work on the bridge will continue for several weeks, the opening – on the cusp of the summer season, and with a temporary closure of the nearby Oceanic Bridge about to begin – marked a victory against a ticking clock, Freeholder Tom Arnone told redbankgreen.
“It was all-hands-on” to get the bridge open after a five-month closure, he said.
As seen in these photos taken Sunday afternoon, the new Hubbard’s Bridge between Red Bank and Middletown still has a punchlist of unfinished details, such as the installation of decorative lamps, as seen at right. Still, the span is slated to open Monday with a 10 a.m. ribbon cutting on the Middletown side, Monmouth County officials said Friday.
Above is a view from the Middletown side, including a new “overheight vehicle” warning drivers of trucks and other large vehicles of the 10-foot, 11-inch trestle clearance on the Red Bank side that has claimed many a truck roof. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Stuck in traffic on eastbound West Front Street into Red Bank? Blame the driver of this truck, which got wedged in the railroad trestle at about 4:30 p.m.
This week’s spotlight comment is by ‘Ditch Waverly.’
Readers of redbankgreen comments may be familiar with Ditch’s occasional postings. Quite evidently written by a resident of Waverly Place in Red Bank, they’re framed kind of as dispatches from the front porch, but with some wild imaginings and mordant wit thrown in.
Here’s Ditch’s standout comment of last week, from a story about a truck that got stuck under the West Front Street railroad trestle:
Yes, again. Westbound this time. (Photo courtesy of Gregg Helfman)
This one’s definitely in the dog-bites-man category. But hey, it’s a slow news day, and as long as we’re on the topic…
A furniture delivery truck nearly got stuck beneath the railroad trestle over West Front Street near Hubbards Bridge in Red Bank this morning.
The driver backed the vehicle out, turned around and headed west.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen this problem.
A tow rig operator gets ready to hitch a cable to an AT&T truck that got jammed under the railroad trestle on West Front Street near Hubbards Bridge in Red Bank this morning.
Traffic was being detoured to Route 35 and there appeared to be minimal delays when redbankgreen took this pic at 9:45a.
