Bridge Scheduled to Open June 19; Costly Submarine Cable Gets Re-bid

CREST HAVEN – Townsend’s Inlet Bridge saga continues, out of sight this time.
The bridge is scheduled to allow vehicular traffic across June 19. County Engineer Dale Foster told freeholders June 9 he was confident the contractor would be capable of meeting that deadline.
Although scheduled to open by Memorial Day weekend that did not happen, as work was not complete in order to allow traffic to pass.
At the meeting, Foster updated the board on a costly submarine cable that supplies power to control traffic signals and to run motors that raise and lower the bascule span.
It was his recommendation, and the board agreed, to reject the single bid received to replace the submarine cable. “It was just under $1 million, and the engineer’s estimate was $621,000,” said Foster.
For that reason, the cable will be up for another round of bidding in the hope that a lower price will be submitted.
“It is expensive,” Foster said. “Unfortunately to get power from another area you would have to run it from Fourth Avenue in Avalon for about 1,800 feet and up to the bridge, and then you would have to come up with a microwave frequency to control the motors.”
“It takes roughly half a year to fabricate this cable,” Foster continued. “It is critical we get this done right away, because there are all sorts of in-water restrictions. So we have to be done by March 1, 2016.”
Those underwater cables have a long life, he noted. Their greatest “enemy” is being struck by a vessel. Should that happen, “It’s the biggest cause of slow death. Water will start seeping in.”
Foster said the cable at Townsend’s Inlet Bridge was installed in the late 1970s or early 1980s. A similar cable that operates the Middle Thorofare Bridge, connecting Five Mile Beach and with Lower Township, “was put in before my time, and I’ve been working with the Ocean Drive bridges since 1979,” said Foster.
In addition to electric wiring, Foster said the specifications call for space that will permit installation of fiber optic cable, should it ever be desired to install in the future.
Legal advertisement for the bid can be found in the Herald’s June 17 edition.