When Bridges Close, Motorists Learn Too Late, Municipalities, Police Decide, but Who Knows?

COURT HOUSE – Have you ever been on the way to work or dinner when you came to a bridge that was closed due to flooding and had to reroute?
For many local travelers this scenario happens often enough that it would seem there should be some notification system to alert the public that a bridge is closed before arrival at the bridge.
While it would be beneficial to know when bridges are expected to re-open, there is apparently no central collection point for that information to be gathered and disseminated to the public.
While county officials agree it would be helpful to have that information ahead of time, according to the county Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and the Bridge Commission, it’s the responsibility of the municipalities to determine if a bridge needs closing due to flooding, and then to notify them when it happens.
“But it (notification) happens less than half the time,” noted Karen Coughlin, executive director, Cape May County Bridge Commission. “We are usually notified by our toll collectors who will call us and tell us. Once we investigate it, then we’ll give our toll collectors the go-ahead to stop collecting a toll at the bridge that is being used as the detour.”
She said the commission was recently notified of the closing of George Redding Bridge (between Wildwood and Lower Township) when the Herald posted a notice about it on its website.
Travelers were detoured to Middle Thorofare Bridge in Lower Township and then had to pay the $1.50 toll until the collector received permission to stop collecting tolls.
“Usually it’s free if there is a detour causing a bridge to be closed, but we need to check it out first and find out what’s going on,” Coughlin said. “Our toll collector was doing the right thing by collecting a toll until given permission.”
According to Coughlin, there are 22 county bridges administered by the county, and the Bridge Commission is responsible for the five toll bridges, which it owns, on Ocean Drive from Cape May to Ocean City and Longport:
* Middle Thorofare bridge intersects Cape May Harbor and a jetty across from the Coast Guard Training Center between Cape May and Wildwood Crest in Cold Spring.
*  Grassy Sound bridge between North Wildwood and Stone Harbor.
*  Townsend’s Inlet bridge between Avalon and Sea Isle City.
*  Corson’s Inlet bridge in Strathmere at the south end of Ocean City.
*  Ocean City-Longport bridge at the northern end of Ocean City in an area known as The Gardens.
According to the OEM and Coughlin, usually local police departments will make the decision to close a bridge due to flooding.
“They are supposed to notify us, but it doesn’t really happen regularly,” Coughlin said. “If it’s a major storm we may know about it, but if it’s flooding from a minor storm, the best source of information is the local police department.”
Coughlin said the bridge on Ocean Drive in Avalon (southern approach to Townsend’s Inlet bridge) will be closed Nov. 16 for several months. It will be open one lane during February’s Polar Bear Plunge, but then it is expected to re-open in the spring. She is hopeful there will be some messaging system in place to alert travelers to closings due to flooding.
For now, she said the contractor has put up a sign near the bridge informing motorists of the closing.
“One of the problems is that there is no one place where people go for information, or no one app or website,” she explained. “We are trying to work something out, but right now I don’t know what it will be.”
A website, capemaycountyemergency.net is managed by the county Office of Emergency Management, but it does not include information about bridge closings due to flooding, which may occur on high tides during full moon or in minor storms.
“We include information for states of emergency,” said Martin Pagliughi, emergency management communications coordinator. “If we are notified that a bridge is closed, then we notify the police, fire department, Office of Emergency Management and emergency medical services. Usually the police department determines a bridge needs to be closed and works with their Department of Public Works to put up barricades. It’s up to the local towns to notify people,” Pagliughi said.
During a declared state of emergency, Pagliughi said his office uses its website to post information about various emergencies: storms, floods, blizzards, hurricanes, and non-weather related emergencies including missing persons.
During a prolonged emergency event, the website promises to provide updates with photos, videos and other essential information.
For 2016, Pagliughi said he is putting a “Code Red” community notification system into his budget. “If it isn’t cut, it can be used if there is a state of emergency to broadcast across the county.
“However, people have to sign up for it,” he added. If approved, it could be implemented by next spring.
“Towns all have a community notification system that they can use,” he continued, “They can segregate the message to certain areas within their town. It gets used, for example, if there is going to be flooding in a certain area of a town and they want to alert people to move their cars. But you have to live within that town to get the notice, so if you are driving through a town where you don’t live, you wouldn’t necessarily get that notice.
“People usually aren’t looking at a website when they are driving so it’s difficult to notify travelers ahead of time when a bridge is closed,” Pagliughi added. “Someone has to make that initial call.”
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.