BRIDGE

structural issues, and it was originally going to be closed when construction commenced, [which happened some eight months later]), the result of apparent communication and resource deployment failures, as well as the then-imposed weight restriction being disregarded on at least two occasions.

In fact, the email conversations obtained by this newspaper reveal that the county’s order to close the bridge came within less than an hour of a township official apparently being emailed for the second time over the course of a couple days that one of the municipality’s own vendors was seen crossing the bridge with solid waste collection trucks that exceeded the weight restriction, with the local official being asked to rectify the matter.

But as the township official corresponded back-and-forth with the vendor over a period of about 50 minutes, in which that vendor asked for more details about where the bridge in question was located (nearly five days after the initial notice of the weight restriction was first emailed to the township), the county arrived at the decision “in the interest of public safety” to close the bridge “due to continued disregard for the load posting.”

The discovery of the emails, obtained Jan. 20 by the Pine Barrens Tribune through an answered Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request, came as a result of a tipster reporting “there are whispers that the county has a problem with Medford Township,” with that person maintaining that they had “become aware of the issues” while in service to one of Medford Township’s governing boards.

That person, who maintained the bridge closure “has created a huge annoyance for residents from the south end of Medford to get to doctors’ appointments, grocers, churches, salons and the rest of Medford,” became distressed enough by what they had heard to contact this newspaper and plead for “investigative reporting,” believing it was important for the public to be in the know.

The tipster also raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the continual delays, pointing out “the bridge has been out of used for over a year,” asking, “What’s going on?” and “What’s the truth?”

When “unsafe conditions” were discovered during an inspection of the bridge that had occurred the week prior to its Nov. 23, 2021, emergency closure, the county’s initial reaction was to only put in effect an “immediate reduction of the bridge load to a six-ton maximum,” in an apparent attempt to keep the major township artery of Jackson Road open to most through traffic for as long as possible.

Then, on Nov. 23, 2021, the county put out a statement that “non-compliance with the reduced order prompted the Engineer’s Office to order the closure restricting all traffic across the span until repairs are made.”

But while that statement might have been seen by some as a suggestion that it was simply the general public or private industry not complying with the weight restrictions, what officials didn’t apparently divulge is that it was actually vehicles belonging to, or affiliated with governmental entities, and in the case of Medford Township, one of its vendors, that were observed by a county engineer disregarding the weight restriction – the latter on at least a couple of occasions.

On Nov. 19, 2021, at 9:49 a.m., an official of the Lenape Regional School District (LRHSD), an official of the Medford Township School District, and several officials from Medford Township, were initially emailed by Joseph Brickley, the county’s head engineer and director of County Public Works, that he will be “immediately reducing the load for the subject bridge until proper repairs can be designed and made.” He expressed that his team was in the process of making calculations on what the limit should be, and that it would be conveyed and commence through posted signage.

Then, on Nov. 22, 2021, at 9:49 a.m., Brickley sent a follow-up email to those officials, writing, “upon further review, and crunching the load calculation numbers over the weekend, based on limiting structural components, it is necessary to restrict all vehicles, including emergency vehicles, to six (6) tons, maximum,” noting that “this needs to be immediate.”

At the time, the county engineer added that the “bridge will be closed to all traffic during repairs,” which would commence “once we have secured all materials.”

But it was at 3:27 p.m. on Nov. 22, 2021, that Brickley wrote to the officials for a third time, in addition to including other county officials (among them, two members of the Burlington County Board of Commissioners), to inform them that “Folks: County engineers, today, observed school buses and private trash collection trucks disregarding the posted weight limit and crossing the bridge.”

“I understand there may have been a delay in getting the Lenape School district noticed, which has been/is being addressed,” Brickley continued. “If the posted limit is continued to be ignored, in the interest of public safety, I will have no choice but to close the bridge (with physical barriers).”

Brickley, in that same email, told both the township and school districts to “please do whatever you can to make sure the posting is observed.”

A couple minutes later, at 3:34 p.m. on

Nov. 22, 2021, Richard Parks, the director of the township’s Department of Neighborhood Services, apparently copied and pasted the contents of Brickley’s third email, sending it off to Republic Services, the township’s contracted trash collection provider. (In the batch of emails provided on Jan. 20 of this year, no other prior correspondence about the bridge situation between Republic and the township was located by this newspaper, nor were there any replies prior to that moment from any township or school district officials acknowledging receipt of Brickley’s emails.)

“Please make sure your solid waste vehicles do not travel this road and cross this bridge,” wrote Parks to Republic on Nov. 22. “We are providing fair warning that the (Medford Township) Police Department may be taking enforcement action against any violators.”

While forwarding the contents of Brickley’s third email to Republic, Parks also included the contents of the county engineer’s email from the morning stating that “upon further review, and crunching the load calculation numbers, over the weekend, based on limiting structural components, it is necessary to restrict all vehicles, including emergency vehicles, to six (6) tons, maximum.”

It is unclear, based on a review of the emails provided to this newspaper, whether Parks had ever notified the trash collection provider about Brickley’s initial Nov. 19 and 22 emails, at least by verbal means, or if he had even received Brickley’s emails before that afternoon, given that no reply could be found in the batch.

Brickley’s third email emphasized that the weight restrictions needed to be “immediate” and urged local officials to “please pass along this notice to any impacted.”

On the following day, Nov. 23, 2021, at 10:56 a.m., in another email from Parks to Republic representatives, copied to Township Manager Kathy Burger, Parks wrote that he “received word” from the Medford Township Police Department “through the county Engineer’s Office” that “Republic’s solid waste vehicles are still using Jackson Road.”

“More specifically, the truck hauling loaded roll-off containers from our yard was seen driving over this bridge that is clearly marked with a six-ton weight limit,” Parks continued. “If the county continues to see violators doing this, they will close the bridge in an effort to protect the public.”

“Please have your drivers avoid traveling over this bridge until further notice,” emphasized Parks to Republic’s representatives copied on the email.

A couple of minutes later, a dispatcher from Republic responded, “Could you tell me where the bridge is located along Jackson Road so that I can be specific on what portion to avoid?”

Parks, in a reply at 11:02 a.m., explained that the bridge is “located between North and South Lakeside Drives.”

“If your trucks are not servicing this area, please avoid Jackson Road between Stokes Road and Tuckerton Road,” Parks added.

Then, at 11:52 a.m., or only some 50 minutes later, Parks wrote to the Republic representatives again to “please see (the) notification below from the county Engineer’s Office regarding (the) Jackson Road bridge closure.”

The notification of a “bridge closure” that Parks referenced was one he received moments earlier from Brickley, at 11:44 a.m. that day, in which the head county engineer wrote “Folks: Due to the continued disregard for the load posting, in the interest of public safety, I am physically (with Jersey barriers) closing the bridge effective 1 p.m. this afternoon. The closure will be posted at Stokes & Tuckerton with local traffic only. No detour route will be provided.”

Burger was among some nearly two-dozen local and county officials who received the notification, also copied to the township engineer, Chris Noll, county solicitor, Ashley Buono, then-Medford fire chief, Thomas Thorn, and Medford police chief, Arthur Waterman.

Robert Dovi, the township’s thenemergency management coordinator, was notably left off all four of the county’s correspondences, and in the batch of emails provided to this newspaper, no emailed attempts of forwarding these messages along to Dovi were located.

One of the emails obtained by this newspaper also suggest there was more than a 72-hour delay in deploying variable message boards to the site to better forewarn motorists of the weight restriction, as well as in enforcement, with Parks, just a little less than an hour before the county’s Nov. 23, 2021, decision to close the bridge was made, writing to Republic, “once variable message boards and additional signage is in place, the Police Department will begin enforcement.”

“It is likely that these things will be in place shortly and enforcement efforts will be immediately following,” wrote Parks to Republic on Nov. 23, 2021.

In the Nov. 19, 2021, email from Brickley, he, at that time, asked for “any assistance law enforcement can provide in enforcement,” though the county engineer did note that the county would be posting “temporary load posting signs,” maintaining it would be done “ASAP.”

All four of Brickley’s emails were copied to the LRHSD’s “transportation coordinator,” though the regional school district’s “director of transportation” was not included, nor was the regional school district’s top administrative staff, including Superintendent Dr. Carol Birnbohm and the business administrator. The lone Medford school district official to be sent an email

See BRIDGE/ Page 6