Devon Road Bridge Collapses

The Devon Road bridge is closed to through traffic after a neighbor said a trash truck driving over it caused its partial collapse over the weekend.

According to Deputy Mayor Anthony Minniti, the received a phone call Friday from a neighbor that the bridge partially collapsed and the truck that went over it just drove on.

However, Minniti said .

“The part you walk across,” Minniti said, “that wasn’t in really good shape.”

That part had been closed to the public.

There are weight restrictions for the bridge and Minniti said police are trying to find out what truck crossed the bridge and if weigh restrictions were violated.

“The police are conducting an investigation with the traffic department to find out if anything was done by the truck to cause failure,” Minniti said.

Despite the damage done Friday, Minniti said township committee already allocated money to replace the bridge as part of this year’s capital budget.

The township looked into using Federal Emergency Management Agency money after Hurricane Irene to replace the bridge, however since engineers said it was safe, there was no money available.

“It’s being replaced this year anyway,” he said. “Fortunately there wasn’t a situation where any vehicles or people were put at risk.”

The closed walkway was going to be replaced anyway, but the township decided to tackle the entire bridge. Since the bridge is on a school bus route, officials were waiting until the summer to do the project.

And Minniti said since it’s not such a huge project, the township will be replacing it in-house. Township Engineer Fred Turek did not return a call for comment but Minniti said the project would most likely be moved up after Friday’s accident.

“It wasn’t something where the bridge was unsafe, left or neglected” Minniti pointed out. “There’s going to be an investigation as to why it failed.”