CREST HAVEN – Cape May County Bridge Commission was presented with a study Oct. 19 that briefly outlined seven alternatives to replace or rehabilitate the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge.
Making the presentation were representatives of Greenman-Pedersen International.
In short, the present span linking Avalon and Sea Isle City, is slightly over 25-feet wide with two 10-foot travel lanes.
Proposed models show a bridge that is 47-feet wide with two 12-foot travel lanes, two bicycle lanes, and two 6-foot sidewalks, as well as a potential increase for fishing access.
That’s the easy part. The rest of the project, whichever alternative is selected, will require anywhere between $15 million and $150 million.
Where that money will come from has yet to be determined.
According to the study, Alternative 1, the least costly with a price tag between $15 and $20 million, would add 25 years of service life to the bridge that was built in the early 1940s.
It’s estimated that would require three years of construction, intermittent lane closures and would maintain the existing 15-ton limit on vehicles.
Alternatives 2A and 2B cost between $85 million and $125 million, and would require five years of construction.
The other alternatives, 3 to 7, would range from $105 million to $150 million and take four to five years to build.
Listed under “Environmental Constraints and Permits” are 11 permits and approvals, ranging from U.S. Coast Guard and state Historic Preservation Office and Federal Section 106, to seven Department of Environmental Protection permits and one from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is deemed, “Significant Involvement.”
Listed under “Construction Restrictions” are from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, one for an in-water moratorium, for fish, and another for an above-water moratorium for plover.
The last two limit construction to seasons when neither piping plover nor fish are breeding, generally in the spring and early summer.
Alternatives 2A and 2B through 7 have more “Significant Involvement” red dots beside them, meaning potentially longer times getting approvals.
According to County Engineer Dale Foster, Alternative No. 1 is “just step one toward the overall program for the future of the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge.”
That is because the work done on that alternative must be performed for any of the other alternatives “due to the time that will elapse in securing permits and when the construction of the major rehab or replacement is performed.”
Officials do not believe much if any federal funding may flow to the work, thus leaving the bulk of the expense to be done at the county level. Bridge tolls would not be close to meeting any of the alternatives’ costs.
View the presentation here.
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