CREST HAVEN – The estimated cost of a project that includes replacement of the Middle Thorofare Bridge between Wildwood Crest and the Garden State Parkway has risen to $350 million, from an initial $220 million, but the bridge will not be replaced in this decade.
According to county engineer Robert Church, who has called it the largest such project in county history, the project will go out to bid in about six years, with the mid-construction point coming at about eight years.
It includes replacement of three bridges and construction of about 2.2 miles of roadway. Its main feature is the replacement of the drawbridge over the Middle Thorofare with a fixed-span bridge that will be 80 feet above mean high water.
“The way it’s designed, most of the project can be built offline,” Church said. “There won’t be an interruption of traffic. The only time there will be an interruption will be like a four- to six-month interruption as they set the girders over existing traffic on that bridge. But once they’re set, then traffic will resume.”
Church updated the county commissioners on the project during their July 8 meeting.
The project underwent a $1.4 million local concept development study in 2017, when the cost was estimated to be about $220 million. As recently as March 2024, Church estimated the cost at $250 million.
He said there are several reasons for the cost increases. When the original study was done they envisioned using the road shoulders for bike traffic, he said; that requires a dedicated bike lane on the bridge, which meant it had to be widened by 5 feet.
Also, the bridge length increased to allow for the desired height, and there were additional retaining walls required that were not in the original cost. Electronic tolling was added, which also was not in the original concept.
Church said there are two more years of preliminary engineering, to be followed by two years of final engineering and another year for bidding. He said if everything goes well, construction should start in seven years and would last four years.
The project begins at Route 109 near Exit 0 of the Parkway and extends to Madison Avenue in the Diamond Beach section of Lower Township. In addition to the drawbridge, two smaller flat bridges – the Mill Creek Bridge and the Upper Thorofare Bridge – and an existing 5-foot-diameter culvert near the entrance to the Two Mile Landing restaurant will also be replaced.
The new flat bridges will be about 9 feet higher than the existing bridges, and Ocean Drive will be raised about 4 feet, Church said, “because of the base flood elevation being increased through the state and the federal government.”
The new fixed-span bridge will be about 2,000 feet long to accommodate the desired height and clearances. The 80-foot clearance was vetted with the fishing industry as part of a study to determine its needs; Church said the Coast Guard concurred with those dimensions.
During the preliminary engineering phase now underway the county is working on permit acquisition and coordinating with the different utilities for right- of-way acquisitions, he said, adding the phase will cost the county about $9 million.
“We wanted to expedite the design of this so we could, first of all, replace these bridges before we had issues with emergencies on them and also to streamline the process so that we can get into the pool to start to get funding for the project,” Church said.
He also said the county is in the grant solicitation process, applying for a large bridge grant under the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
“This is the last year of that program, so we wanted to get this project in because of the cost,” Church said. “Once we get the project in the works, even if that (grant) program goes away, there might be earmarks or other programs that will come about after that for funding sources.”
Church briefly described the route being considered. He said traveling on Ocean Drive toward Wildwood Crest, near the Bumblebee plant factory, the road will veer off toward Cape May Harbor. The new fixed-span bridge will cross over the existing bridge, he said, because the existing bridge has to remain in place while the new one is being constructed.
Church said the project lends itself to being broken up into phases, such as the culvert portion, for which there are state and federal grants.
He described the project as “really complex,” saying there are not only construction and administrative costs, but mitigation costs for wetlands, which are fairly substantial.
The project consultant, Michael Baker International, has been asked to study county-owned wetlands for a land swap rather than being forced to do mitigation. Church said the county could create its own land bank and buy credits from itself to cover the cost of mitigation. He said the county could also offer those credits to other municipalities that are in need of credits. He said currently there is only one wetlands mitigation bank in South Jersey, and it gets very expensive to buy these credits.
He said Michael Baker International was hired to evaluate different alignments and bridge types. That process, he said, went on until 2021, when one of nine possible plans was selected. The plan selected received concurrence from the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, he said.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
