Raritan Bay Drawbridge

Raritan Bay Drawbridge
In the open position in early summer 2011
Carries	New York and Long Branch (to 1976) Conrail North Jersey Coast Line
Crosses	Raritan River
Locale	The Amboys, New Jersey
Other name(s)	River Draw
Owner	New Jersey Transit
ID number	NJT 400
Characteristics
Design	Swing bridge
Longest span	331 feet (101 m)
No. of spans	30
History
Constructed by	Pennsylvania Steel Company McCullen and McDermott
Construction end	1908
River Draw At the gateway to the Raritan Bayshore

The Raritan Bay Drawbridge, also known as River Draw, Raritan Bay Swing Bridge, and Raritan River Railroad Bridge, is a railroad swing bridge crossing the Raritan River a half mile from where in empties into the Raritan Bay in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It connects Perth Amboy to the north and South Amboy to the south.

The bridge was built in 1908 to a replace one that had been built at the crossing in 1875 to serve the New York and Long Branch Railroad, jointly operated by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) and Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). Soon after its construction the bridge wad damaged in a sever winter storm. The bridge has been owned by several different parties since the CNJ/PRR era: Penn Central (1968–1971), the New Jersey Department of Transportation (to 1983), and New Jersey Transit (NJT).

The bridge is used by NJT commuter rail on its North Jersey Coast Line and for Conrail-Norfolk Southern rail freight operations. Federal regulations require the bridge to be open on signal except during rush hour or when a train has passed the home signal for it.

The drawbridge was scheduled to be replaced after suffering structural damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The bridge was overwashed by the storm surge, struck by two tugboats, and had to be realigned before low-speed service could resume a month later. A $446 million federal grant, announced in 2014, will fund construction of a new bridge, which is expected to take 4–5 years while trains continue using the existing bridge.