LOWER TOWNSHIP — Weeks after city officials raised questions about a disused railroad bridge leading over the Cape May Canal, a section of that bridge collapsed. The wooden structure was not part of the bridge supports, but instead protected the bridge from boat traffic.
Lt. Daniel Nelson, the commanding officer of Coast Guard Station Cape May, said the section was reported blocking the channel on Thursday. He said the Coast Guard notified New Jersey Transit and the section has been removed.
“It’s free and clear now,” Nelson said on Monday.
A crew from Sea Tow Cape May cleared debris from the main channel of the canal over the weekend. Jack Moran, the owner of the marine service company, said the nine pilings had collapsed, connected together by a horizontal timber.
The section served as a fender to prevent boats from damaging bridge supports. Moran thinks likely a passing boat struck the section. Below the surface, he said, the pilings were badly eroded.
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“I’m sure it’s been struck dozens of times,” he said. “You may see a full piling on the surface and it will be like a toothpick on the bottom.”
He said he was contracted by Cape Seashore Lines to remove the timber from the channel.
After cutting the section free with a chainsaw, they towed it to a nearby ramp where it was loaded onto a flatbed.
The train bridge has not been used in years. According to officials with NJ Transit, it would need extensive repairs or replacement before it could be put back into operation if rail service were to ever return to Cape May.
“NJ Transit is not currently working on restoring the bridge,” reads a recent email from the agency’s public information office.
The bridge, and the railroad tracks leading from it into Cape May, were recently discussed by members of City Council after an update on plans for the city’s Welcome Center at 609 Lafayette St.
The city is in discussion with NJ Transit on improvements to that property, where city officials want to add more parking spaces. The city has been told the railroad tracks cannot be removed.
It’s been years since a train has run on the tracks, but they were in use last summer and are expected to be again this year, with a private company renting rail bikes for tours of the marsh and natural areas along the tracks.
Regular rail service was once vital to beach towns in Cape May County, including Cape May. The regular commuter rail service to Cape May ended in the 1980s.
The tracks belong to NJ Transit, which leases them to Cape May Seashore Lines, which has in turned contracted with Revolution Rail for the use of the tracks for the rail bike operation. Cape May Seashore Lines operates a number of freight and passenger lines in South Jersey, including an Easter Bunny Express tourist train from Richland and from the Tuckahoe Train Station.
The company used to operate a tourist line between Cold Spring Village in Lower Township over the canal and into the former train station in Cape May, which now serves as the city’s welcome center. That service relied on the swing bridge.
Company founder Tony Macrie did not respond Monday to a request for comment on this story. He founded Cape May Seashore Lines in the 1980s. The company subleases the track south of the Cape May Canal to Revolution Rail, which plans to again offer tours this year on rail cart that can be peddled by passengers, which they describe as rail bikes.
The guided rail bike tours did not use the bridge, instead turning back at the canal.
Cape May Seashore Lines is responsible for the maintenance of the track. Moran said the rail line hired his company to remove the debris.
It is not yet certain what caused the section of bridge to collapse.
“NJ Transit, the city of Cape May and Cape May Seashore Lines are working collaboratively with the U. S. Coast Guard in investigating the cause of the incident and identifying repair options to ensure boat traffic is not impeded,” NJ Transit spokesman Jim L. Smith said Monday.
Cape May officials have suggested removing the tracks entirely, with Council member Shaine P. Meier saying they would be better used as walking trails.
After the damage to the bridge, Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock suggested at least removing the bridge, since it no longer functions.
“Even if rail service came back to Cape May, the first thing they’ll do is remove that old bridge,” Mullock said on Monday. “They would remove it to build new.”
The bridge is entirely within Lower Township. There are two automobile bridges over the canal as well. Mullock said he was surprised the boaters have not been more vocal about removing the bridge.
There is precedent for the removal of out-of-use railroad bridges.
In Ocean City, a swing bridge over Crook Horn Creek built in 1910 and abandoned in 1981 was removed in 1992 after it was declared a hazard to navigation. Later, much of the steel was removed from the tracks leading out past 52nd Street into the marsh. A rutted dirt road along the tracks remains in use by pedestrians, but the route has been blocked to vehicles.
According to Nelson, the Coast Guard lieutenant, the railroad bridge at the Cape May Canal is not in the way of navigation. He said the bridge sections are properly marked and lit at night and the channel is passible now that the damaged section has been removed.
“There’s nothing now that’s deeming it not navigable,” Nelson said.
