"SAPE" was here. Phil Craig was astonished that a graffiti painter was able to leave a "tag" on a railroad bridge while dodging trains and dangling 15 feet above Route 80. But Craig was more concerned by what else he saw. SAPE’s tag was on a bridge in Wayne Township that was covered with so much rust it might...
Phil Craig was astonished that a graffiti painter was able to leave a "tag" on a railroad bridge while dodging trains and dangling 15 feet above Route 80.
But Craig was more concerned by what else he saw.
SAPE’s tag was on a bridge in Wayne Township that was covered with so much rust it might as well have been painted orange.
Craig, 73, of Montclair, is a semi-retired rail operations and infrastructure planner who helped coordinate railroad systems from Turkey to Taipei. He is on a one-man crusade to get the state to fix its deteriorating highway railroad bridges.
Standing on narrow shoulders along New Jersey’s interstates and the Garden State Parkway, with vehicles whizzing past, he has photographed the rusting bridges and the graffiti tags such as "POTA." He’s handed copies of the pictures to state transportation officials.
He has kept the heat on state transportation commissioners, addressing them at public meetings and giving them copies of his written statements that were put on record, trying to get somebody, anybody, to take responsibility for the condition of the bridges.
"I see this as an organizational … situation, where you’ve got the 10 arms pointing in a different direction, saying, ‘Not my responsibility,’ " Craig said.
Just as he did with departing state Transportation Commissioner Steve Dilts in December, Craig, at an NJ Transit meeting in June, told current Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson: "Rust is a cancer that destroys the structural integrity of a steel bridge."
Phil Craig of Montclair stands in front of the rusted and graffiti-covered railroad bridges on the Montclair-Boonton line over 46 in Wayne.Though he has been mostly alone in his quest to have rust and graffiti blasted from the bridges, his mission has the potential to help thousands of commuters.
Railroad bridges that are not properly maintained could be subject to severe speed restrictions, leading to delays for passengers and lost time and money for freight haulers, Craig said. Left untreated, the rust will rapidly age the structures, costing more for repairs the longer the state waits, he said.
"It’s the leaky roof issue," Craig said. "When you see the first leak — boom, have something done. Because otherwise you are going to not only be replacing the roof or patching it, you are going to have structural damage done to the house. The same thing applies here."
Under the worst set of circumstances, he added, there could be a bridge collapse.
Craig said he isn’t sure how many railroad bridges are in dire need of repair, but quoted an assistant state transportation commissioner who pointed out last year that 27 of the 107 railroad bridges in the state — more than a quarter of them — were "structurally deficient."
In addition to noting the rusting bridge above Route 80 in Wayne Township that serves NJ Transit’s Montclair-Boonton Line and Norfolk Southern freight trains, Craig, during a tour with a reporter, also pointed to dilapidated railroad bridges above the Garden State Parkway in Saddle Brook ("It hasn’t been painted in decades.") and Route 46 in Wayne Township.
He gave photographs of those three bridges, plus another over the Parkway in Woodbridge, to Simpson and NJ Transit officials.
"They don’t look healthy," Craig said.
The rusted and graffiti-covered railroad bridges on the Montclair-
Boonton line over Route 80 in Wayne shows its age.By comparison, he said, the highway bridges on which automobiles travel are painted and well-maintained by the state.
In between stops to look at corroding rail bridges, Craig wondered how the graffiti spray painters navigated the elements.
"They are daring, to put it mildly," he said.
At the July NJ Transit meeting, the one after Craig made his comments, the board of directors approved three separate contracts worth about $2 million for New Jersey companies to perform in-depth structural inspections, evaluations and load ratings of 143 "undergrade" bridges. These are spans where tracks cross above a stream, railroad, road or pedestrian right-of-way. There are also to be underwater diving inspections of seven bridges.
However, the NJ Transit budget item appearing so soon after Craig’s speech was a coincidence. A bridge inspection item comes before the board every year, and bridges are inspected on a rotating basis, said NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel.
Craig said that after his comments at the June meeting, a member of Simpson’s staff phoned to say the state was exploring options to allow advertising on bridges to pay for the cost of painting.
After the same meeting, the usual rail buffs who attend NJ Transit proceedings joked that were going to henceforth give Craig a new nickname:
"Rusty."