Shrewsbury River Bridge Report & Photographs

This report’s complete title is Shrewsbury River Bridge (Route 36 Bridge over the Shrewsbury River) (Route 36/Highlands Bridge), US Route 36 as it passes over the Shrewsbury River, Highlands Borough and Sea Bright Borough, Monmouth County, New Jersey: Photographs, Written Historical and Descriptive Data. The documentation was prepared in June 2006 for the New Jersey Department of Transportation by RBA Group, Inc., and is accompanied by an undated cover letter from Rob Tucher, Senior Architectural Historian, RBA, who wrote the report and did the photographs. Tucher explains that the materials consist of archival copies of Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation for the bridge “in fulfillment of stipulation I.C.1 of a Memorandum of Agreement between the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office, the New Jersey Department of Administration, and the Federal Highway Administration,” and that the “format adheres to standards set by the Library of Congress for HAER documentation.”

The report was transferred to the Monmouth County Archives in April 2010 by Karen Moench, Chief Librarian, Monmouth County Library (Accession 2010-06).

The report consists of three principal sections: 1) report; 2) sixty 5×7 inch photographs of the bridge, including recent views, historic views, and construction drawings; and 3) sixty 5×7 inch negatives for the photographs.

The text of the report provides a detailed description and history of the bridge, which was built in 1932-1933 by contractors for the New Jersey State Highway Department. Those most responsible for the bridge included the engineering firm of Waddell and Hardesty; Thomas P. Weston, Jr., Civil Engineer; Charles Francis Bedwell, Chief Construction Engineer; Morris Goodkind, Chief Bridge Engineer; Jacob Louis Bauer, State Highway Engineer; Seeds and Derham, concrete contractor; American Bridge Company, contractor; Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, contractor; Pure Carbonic, Inc., contractor; and United States Industrial Alcohol Company, contractor. Tucher then considers the bridge’s possible connection to the Mueller Mosaic Company of Trenton, which is cited in the bridge plans as designer but whose role could not be verified.

After end notes, maps, and bibliography, the report provides a list of the sixty photographs. In addition to views made in 2006, the photographs include copies of historic photographs made ca. 1895, ca. 1900, and ca. 1932-1935.

Use of the report is unrestricted. The report is stored in the Archives’ climate controlled vault to provide optimal environmental conditions for the photographs.