Ocean Drive Bridges Top County List for Replacement

COURT HOUSE – Cape May County Engineer Dale Foster doesn’t even pause over the question of which bridges in Cape May County are in the direst need of replacement. 
Four of the five bridges along Ocean Drive, a stretch of scenic road connecting the county’s barrier island resorts, he says. The fifth, in the north end of Ocean City, has already been replaced, but the others remain in place.
He said the county does what it can to keep the bridges open and in good repair, but they’ve been in use for generations. When it comes time to talk about bridge replacements, that’s where he starts.
Who Oversees?
The bridges fall under the jurisdiction of the Cape May County Bridge Commission and were built in the late 1930s to early 1940s with a rush of federal infrastructure money under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.
After more than 70 years in the harsh salt air, battered by waves and occasionally slammed by boats, the bridges are listed in poor condition.
That’s a step up from critical, the lowest rating for an open bridge, but below the ratings for most other county bridges, which are mostly rated fair, satisfactory or good.
But even with a consensus on the need for new bridges, it will be years before work even begins. And that’s if the county can find enough money.
Foster estimates it would cost at least $500 million to replace those bridges, a big bite in a county with a total budget of $146.4 million this year.
In other infrastructure projects, the federal government has stepped in to cover the bulk of the cost, but that is a lengthy and uncertain process, and even if the money comes through, it would not mean a new bridge very quickly.
“I believe if we had the money in hand, it would take us five to seven years before we’d be seeing construction, simply to go through the design process and the permitting process for a new structure,” he said.
Reports Aplenty
Foster is in a conference room near his office in the Cape May County William Sturm Administration building in Crest Haven. On the table is a looming cardboard box overflowing with binders.
They are engineering reports detailing the condition of the bridges throughout the county. As he speaks, the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge connecting Avalon and Sea Isle City remained closed to vehicular traffic as a contractor installed new pilings to secure a section (Pier 6) of the bridge on the Avalon side.
As part of an inspection preparing for repair work planned for the winter, on April 3 a diver found a crack in one of the pilings that support the bridge.
Another of the three pilings supporting that section had badly deteriorated under the waterline, meaning just one was sound.
The county closed the bridge that day.
Engineering Reality
A contractor is carefully driving pilings next to that section of the bridge, vibrating them into the bottom of the channel.
On a recent sunny afternoon, as the work started, Foster was on site as the 50-foot section of piling was lifted by a crane mounted on a barge next to the bridge, while a crew member used surveyor’s equipment to ensure the bridge itself didn’t move in the work.
Foster said before the contractor could reach that point, huge stones that had been placed in the channel years before to stabilize the bottom had to be moved aside, using heavy equipment from above the water.
The bridge has been closed several times in recent years, both for planned maintenance and after damage. It was closed after Hurricane Sandy, but Foster pointed out that in that instance, the bridge weathered the storm. It was the road leading to the bridge that the waves trashed.
Avalon Administrator Scott Wahl said the bridge sees heavy use from locals and visitors in the spring, and more in the summer. The town would like to see it open, but he conceded that safety comes first.
“It’s unfortunate that these closures need to occur and hopefully in due time this bridge and others are more reliable, but safety needs to come first with any decision that is made,” Wahl wrote in an email.
Most in Need
Foster was not sure how long the repairs would take. But despite the closure, the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge does not reach the top of his list for replacement. Foster reserves that for the Middle Thorofare Bridge, which connects the south end of the Garden State Parkway, via Ocean Drive, to the Diamond Beach section of Lower Township, and the Wildwoods to the north.
Problems Above, Below
“Middle Thorofare is probably the number one priority for replacement,” Foster said. That’s based on the condition of the bridge, but also the amount of traffic traveling over it each summer, and its position as an obstacle to navigation.
Just beyond the bridge are the docks for a sizable commercial fishing fleet at Lund’s Fisheries and Atlantic Capes Fisheries, as well as other commercial fishing vessels.
All must pass under the bridge to head out Cape May Inlet to the ocean. The bridge offers very little clearance on either side for the large fishing trawlers. According to Foster even with the bridge open a captain can only pass the bridge when the tide is flowing against the boat or as slack water. Only then does it allow for enough control to clear the narrow opening without striking a girder.
The bridge is rated for 15 tons, which is relatively low for a modern bridge, but Foster said it was only designed for 17.5 tons when it was built in the 1930s.
Dream of Federal Aid
For local officials, the ideal solution would be for the federal government to step in and provide the bulk of the money to replace the bridge.
That’s what happened with the Ocean City-Longport Bridge connecting Ocean City and Atlantic County. That $50-million project was primarily federally funded, and in 2002, a new, fixed span bridge was opened.
That bridge has a clearance of 65 feet, allowing most boats to pass beneath at almost any tide without interruption to car traffic. But the commercial fishing vessels docked elsewhere in local harbors can top 108 feet above the water line.
Needed: Tall Span
That means the bridge should be at least 116 feet, Foster said, which would make it by far the tallest bridge in the county. The height would also require a far greater run-up on either side, or else the bridge would be too steep for traffic.
“You’re looking at a bridge that’s going to be in the neighborhood of a mile long,” Foster said.
The projected cost to replace that bridge makes up a significant portion of the total cost to replace the bridges. Foster estimates that bridge would cost around $200 million.
Poor Condition, Not Critical
Foster said plans are in place to keep the Ocean Drive bridges open, including a repair and maintenance schedule that includes spending millions annually on those and the 22 other county bridges.
There are also bridges maintained by the state, including the two over the Cape May Canal.
A report on the 2016-17 bridge inspection program listed five county bridges in fair condition, eight as satisfactory, and seven as good. Two were listed as poor, the Ocean Drive bridge over Upper Thorofare and the Lafayette Bridge over Cape Island Creek leading into Cape May from Schellenger’s Landing.
Foster said that report did not take into account the most recent work performed on those bridges.
Toll Bridges
The five toll bridges in the county are operated by the Cape May County Bridge Commission, a separate entity from county government, although Foster is the engineer there as well.
Aside from the more recent Ocean City-Longport Bridge, they are all rated as poor.
They also each include a drawbridge section for boat traffic, which brings with it further complications, regarding maintaining the mechanical elements and the need to have a bridge tender on site.
In addition to the three mentioned previously, the commission runs the Grassy Sound Bridge connecting Stone Harbor and North Wildwood, and the Corson’s Inlet Bridge, the most recently constructed of the original Ocean Drive bridges.
Still, according to Foster, it’s also in poor shape.
History of Bridges
The commission first met in 1934, with a mandate to seek federal money to create a series of toll bridges connecting the barrier islands.
They put together a $1.6-million package of grants and loans. For comparison, the county is set to spend more than $6 million on ongoing repairs to the deck of the Roosevelt Boulevard Bridge leading into Ocean City’s south end.
In June of 1940, the commission opened the Middle Thorofare Bridge, with smaller bridges leading up to it.
Drawbridges were also built over Grassy Sound and Townsend’s Inlet, followed in 1946 by the drawbridge over Corson’s Inlet, at the cost of $3.4 million.
That year, the commission also purchased a private bridge built in 1927, for $720,000, completing the bridge system. According to a history posted on the county website, a year later, the commission launched the first major rehabilitation project, in part because of the disrepair of the Ocean City-Longport Bridge. That project lasted until 1950.
Meanwhile, Foster is working on alternatives to fund replacing the bridges, but options are limited.
We’ll explore that further in the next installment.
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.