Shark River train bridge in Belmar temporarily locked in place due to extreme heat

The bridge was locked down until around 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Joti Rekhi

Jul 9, 2025, 2:29 AM

Updated 4 hr ago

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Excessive heat caused some issues for boat owners in Belmar on Tuesday.
The bridge that carries trains over Shark River was temporarily locked in the down position due to the temperature.
"I’ve been around this port since the 1960s, and I don’t remember having these many issues in the last 10 years, let alone how many we had this year," said Richard Falcone, captain of the Golden Eagle.
Falcone also owns three other vessels.
The bridge was locked down until around 7 p.m.
"Luckily, I was able to talk to my boats on the phone," said Falcone. "Just like the game telephone, everybody got wind of it."
Payton Gepp was also out fishing with some customers on The Mohawk, an hour and a half out from the marina. He had about that much time to dock.
"We just started to catch some fish, too," said Gepp. "Everybody gave back a part of the fare. It’s only fair to the people. You want them to come back and be able to come out and have a shot at catching something."
Falcone estimates he lost $10,000 in revenue due to the closure of the waterway.
"I had to do something for all the customers that were on the boat today," said Falcone. "I had an afternoon trip goes from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. I lost that trip."
Gepp claims none of the captains heard anything on the radio channel that this decision would normally be communicated on.
"They definitely have to do something about it. Because there’s a lot of people losing business because of it," said Gepp. "We don’t have another way around. We have to go through the bridge to get in and out, make money."
The business owners are hoping for cooling mechanisms to be put in place on the bridge - similar to what they've seen in other municipalities.
Falcone says he doesn't know if it will be cool enough for a full day of reservations on Wednesday.