Between a Bridge and a Hard Place

You've probably heard this one before.

A box truck entering Red Bank from Middletown over the Front Street Bridge steered by a too-confident driver tries to squeeze beneath a New Jersey Transit rail bridge that looks just tall enough. 

It's a common tail here in Red Bank and a regular source of frustration for commuters trying to get into town because the ending is always the same: truck gets stuck, police arrive on scene and establish detours, and the truck driver looks some combination of embarrassed, worried, or foolish as tow trucks pull their damaged vehicles out from under the bridge.

So it was early Monday afternoon as yet another box truck — unofficially the eighth of this year alone — got stuck under the rail bridge, causing major traffic delays for more than an hour. 

In June, . According to Red Bank Police Capt. Darren McConnell, 40 vehicles had gotten stuck under the New Jersey Transit-owned and operated rail bridge since 2009. That number now sits at 42.

McConnell said the accidents come at significant cost to the borough. But Red Bank isn't able to do much about it. The rail bridge is owned by NJ Transit, and they're not willing to do anything to change it, and Front Street is a county road, and the county isn't willing to do anything either.

Instead, the story remains the same.