Townsend’s Inlet Bridge to Reopen June 23

SEA ISLE CITY – Ocean Drive (County Road No. 619) Bridge over Townsend’s Inlet, between Avalon and Sea Isle City, is anticipated to reopen to vehicular traffic late Friday afternoon, June 23 after being closed for approximately 2.5 months due to underwater pile issues at one of the piers that support the bridge. 
According to a release, the construction team led by South State, Inc, Bridgeton, N.J., worked long hours and Saturdays to repair the bridge. The repairs consisted of installing a new cluster of three 160-foot long 24-inch diameter steel pipe piles on the bay end of Pier 6 and making underwater steel repairs to the steel H-piles on the ocean end of Pier 6. The bay end cluster of new piles was bolted into the existing concrete piercap. Due to the compromised strength of the existing pier to support loads, all work had to be performed from floating equipment placed in the inlet.    
Riprap stones placed in 1962 around the piers at the Avalon end of the bridge made installing the new pipe piles very difficult and the removal of the stones was very time-consuming.  
The portion of the concrete decks and walkways that were removed to gain access to install the new piles were reconstructed earlier this week. 
Greenman-Pedersen was the lead consultant for the team of professional engineers and scientists designing the emergency repairs. Maser Consulting P.A., Red Bank, N.J. with a local office in Marmora, N.J., oversaw the construction operations with underwater inspection assistance from Churchill Consulting Engineers, P.C., Berlin, N.J.