Ground Broken for Second Phase of Route 52 Causeway

OCEAN CITY — New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Commissioner Stephen Dilts joined with state and local officials Wednesday Sept. 30 to break ground on the second phase of construction on the new Route 52 Causeway that links Somers Point and Ocean City.
Dilts said the project is the largest ever awarded by NJDOT. He said the bridge guarantees a steady flow of visitors to both Ocean City and Somers Park and reliable access for residents.
The second phase of the project is priced at $251 million and will replace two remaining lift bridges at each end of the causeway, eliminate the Somers Point Circle and improve MacArthur Boulevard. In addition, NJDOT will provide a new visitor’s center, sidewalks for pedestrians and bicyclists and several fishing piers.
“We will eliminate two of the lowest rated movable bridges in New Jersey…” said Dilts.
He said approximately $70 million for the project will come from the Obama Administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). NJDOT is investing $469 million in ARRA funding in more than 40 road and bridge construction and design projects, including the Route 52 causeway.
Ground was broken for the first phase of the project in late 2006 providing jobs for 200 workers rebuilding more than one mile of the 73-year-old center span from Elbow Island to Garrett’s Island. Dilts said a total 500 persons would find employment through all phases of the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Michelle Gillian said the first phase of the project went smoothly with few traffic interruptions. She said tourism was Ocean City’s only industry and the new causeway was “an economic development tool for the entire region.”
County Freeholder Director Dan Beyel, who also serves as chairman of the South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization, said the federal stimulus funds for the project would free up about $70 million for other transportation projects in the four county region.
New Jersey Federal Highway Division Administrator Dennis Merida said the original plans called for the project to be paid for through bonds. He said the ARRA funding would save the state “tens of millions of dollars in interest that won’t have to be paid to build this project.”
Assemblyman Matt Milam (D-1st) acknowledged the laborers, carpenters, ironworkers and operating engineers who are working on both phases of the project.
The causeway is used by an average of 40,000 drivers per day in the summer season.
NJDOT planned the project in a manner that minimally impacts traffic. No detours are planned during construction, and two lanes will remain open to traffic in each direction on Route 52 during the summer months.
The old causeway has been demolished and the new southbound roadway was completed in spring 2009, almost six months ahead of schedule.