County to Host Discussion on Roosevelt Boulevard Bridge Deck Rehabilitation

COURT HOUSE – Cape May County is hosting an information center to discuss the deck rehabilitation project at the Roosevelt Boulevard (CR623) Bridge, also known as the “34^th Street Bridge”.  The Public Information Center will be held July 18, 2016, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in a Meeting Room N111 at the Ocean City Community Center located at 1735 Simpson Avenue in Ocean City.  Representatives of Greenman-Pedersen, Inc., the County’s designer for the project, will be on hand to discuss the project and answer questions.  The public is invited to attend the open house format meeting at a time convenient to them between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The project involves the rehabilitation and other repairs to the Roosevelt Boulevard Bridge.  13 of the 31 spans of the bridge are slated to have the reinforced concrete bridge deck completely replaced from curb to curb.  The majority of these spans are in the easternmost spans (Ocean City) end of the bridge.  The spans being replaced can be readily identified in the field by the patchwork of repairs made to the deck.  Replacing these decks involves saw cutting or jackhammering the existing concrete deck into smaller, more manageable pieces for removal.  The new decks will consist of high performance concrete with new epoxy-coated reinforcement steel that will be more resistant to the corrosion caused by the intrusion of salts.
Based upon testing, the remaining 18 spans are in good condition and have not required many repairs over the years to their concrete deck.  These decks are to have the top 3-inches of the concrete deck removed through a hydro-demolition process.  This process sprays water on to the deck under high pressure at approximately 30,000 pounds per square inch to remove the concrete.   The wastewater is collected and disposed of at a sewage treatment plant.  The reinforcement steel is cleaned and the decks are overlaid with high performance concrete.
Other work under the project involves strengthening of structural steel members of the main span over the navigational channel; repairs to the bridge railing system; replacement of the deck joint systems; and upgrade to the approach guide rail systems.
The deck work will require the closure of one (1) lane on the bridge and the other remaining lane will be used to handle the alternating direction of travel.  Traffic will be controlled on the bridge through a temporary portable traffic signal.  The project is being broken into four (4) phases so as to reduce the length of the lane closing that utilizes concrete construction barriers.  Each phase consists of working half of the length of the bridge in a closed lane.  Historically lane closings on the Roosevelt Boulevard Bridge have resulted in congestion in both Ocean City and Marmora.  The permissible time for the permanent lane closing is from just after Columbus Day weekend to the first weekend May.  The contractor may have daily lane closings in September and October in preparation for the permanent lane closing. 
The County is currently advertising for the receipt of bids for the construction of the project. The project is expected to be awarded by the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders in August. It is estimated that the construction will require at least two (2) full off-seasons (October to May) to complete.  It is an aggressive schedule that will require the contractor to work more than a typical 8-hour workday and possibly weekends to complete the project.
The County is seeking approvals for the project from US Coast Guard and regulatory permits from US Army Corps of Engineers and NJ Department of Transportation.  The County’s consultant, Greenman-Pedersen, Inc, explored making the bridge more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.  However the cost to modify the bridge to accommodate the extra width would increase the project costs by another $8 million.  The County did explore other funding sources in the hopes to offset the costs of modifications, but the uncertainty of funds being made available and the timing of the funds would only delay the much needed deck repairs.  A deck failure on this heavily traveled bridge, particularly during the summer season, would be detrimental to the tourist economy.
NJ Transportation Trust Funds through NJ Department of Transportation Fiscal Year 2016 Local Bridges Future Needs Program ($1,000,000) and County monies are anticipated to be used to offset the cost of this approximate $8 million project.
Proposed plans of the replacement bridge can be found on the County website at:
http://www.capemaycountynj.gov/1069/Reports-and-studies.