Bridge Alerts Differ, Each Municipality Has Its Own Method

COURT HOUSE – County motorists will need to check or subscribe to different alert systems if they want to be notified of bridge closings due to flooding on local roadways. Two communities which are home to the most “active” bridges, Wildwood and Avalon, each use their own methods to notify motorists about bridge closings.
“The municipalities make the call about closing a bridge,” noted Karen Coughlin, executive director, Cape May County Bridge Commission. “The two most active bridges are the George Redding Bridge (between Wildwood and Lower Township) and the bridge in Avalon (Townsend’s Inlet Bridge). If you travel through these areas, you need to sign up for each municipality’s notification system.”
Wildwood Police Department recently launched a new Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/wildwoodpolice, which promises to include emergency notifications, including bridge closings and flooding.
Avalon uses a number of outlets including public access television, Facebook and the borough website. In the spring, six message boards are expected to appear in selected Sea Isle City and Avalon locations to alert motorists about the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge closing due to flooding. The county will purchase those signs, estimated at $30,000 each.
“So far our new Facebook page has been extremely well received,” said Wildwood Police Chief Robert Regalbuto. “We are currently implementing Nixle, but we are having some technical difficulties at this time.”
Launched in 2007, Nixle is a community information system that connects public safety, municipalities, schools, businesses, residents and their communities. According to its website, it enables real-time, two-way communication through text, email, voice messages, social media and a mobile app.
Anyone can view information by going to www.nixle.com without registering. However, to customize the information you receive and the locations you receive it from, in addition to receiving information by text message and/or email, you must set up an account. Once registered, users can personalize their locations and preferences, making the service fit their needs.
Regalbuto also said the department is looking into an app that could be implemented early next year. “I’m not aware of a countywide system that is being considered,” he added. “I know Middle Township and Lower Township police use Nixle, and it fits Wildwood’s needs.
“If you travel to the island, you’ll have to subscribe to Facebook or Nixle if you want alerts about the George Redding Bridge and street flooding,” he said, “or you can call the department.”
Avalon Business Administrator Scott Wahl said when he gets a call from the police dispatcher about bridge closings; he posts a notification on the public access television Channel 97, which covers Avalon, Sea Isle City and Stone Harbor.
“I also put it on Facebook for Avalon, and the borough website,” he added. “We have an AM radio station, 1630 AM, where we post the information, and we flash lights on the AM radio sign (on Ocean Drive) to let people know there is an alert.” (Avalon’s Facebook page is https://m.facebook.com/Avalon-New-Jersey-The-Official-Page-of-the-Borough-of-Avalon-125693695195/ and the borough website is http://avalonboro.net)
If there is a major storm event, that information is posted on its emergency website, www.avalonemergency.org, which received 2.4 million hits during Hurricane Sandy, Wahl noted. “The template for that website has been used by other communities as well.
“I attended the bridge construction meeting in Sea Isle a few weeks ago,” Wahl said, referring to the bridge on Ocean Drive in Avalon (southern approach to Townsend’s Inlet Bridge) which closed Nov. 16. It will be open one lane during February’s Polar Bear Plunge, and then it is expected to re-open in the spring.
“We spoke with Sea Isle City Mayor Len [Leonard] Desiderio about improving the notification system,” he continued. “We discussed the examination of a plan that would result in the police dispatcher being able to activate a small sign or two strategically placed in both communities whenever the bridge or the road(s) to the bridge were closed.
“Mr. Desiderio agreed that this is a county issue and the county should investigate this and fund this system,” he added. “I don’t wish to speak for him, but that would greatly improve notification.”
Desiderio also is vice director of the Board of Chosen Freeholders and serves also as county director of public safety. 
He said freeholders had recently authorized the hiring of a consultant to determine the best locations to place large monitors, previously mentioned, that would be activated when the Avalon Police Department determined the closing of the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge.
“A countywide system would be good, but the hot topic for the moment seems to be the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge,” Desiderio said. “We have been working with the county engineer on what to do about (notifications of) the frequent closings of the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge, especially during storm season.
“We have decided to place large signs on Sea Isle and Avalon boulevards, and then two additional signs within Sea Isle City and Avalon,” he noted. “These signs would alert a motorist that the bridge was closed.
“I have found myself in the position of coming from the Garden State Parkway into Sea Isle and gotten to the bridge and found that it has been closed,” he continued. “Then I’ve had to go all the way back; hopefully the placement of these signs will alert motorists so this doesn’t happen.
“This can’t be a hit or miss system,” he added. “It’s got to work all the time.”
Desiderio said the county is also exploring the possibility of placing metal gates at each end of the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge. “This is another safety measure,” Desiderio stressed. “You would not be able to go around the gates like you can do with the cones we currently use.
“Marty (Pagliughi, county Office of Emergency Management coordinator) is looking to put in an alert system for the county, which would be great, but in the meantime, this system will be better than what we have now,” he said.
Desiderio called it “ambitious” to have the monitors in place for Presidents’ Weekend, when the Polar Bear Plunge occurs and the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge is planned to be open one way. After that weekend, the roadway is expected to remain open with the possibility of one-lane closures for the contractor to complete the required work. According to Sea Isle City’s website, the bridge is expected to re-open March 15, 2016.
“The monitors will be in place for this summer,” Desiderio said.
Multiple efforts to reach Pagliughi were unsuccessful.
He previously stated that he is putting a “Code Red” community notification system into his 2016 budget. “If it isn’t cut from the budget, it can be used if there is a state of emergency to broadcast across the county,” he has stated.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.