CAPE MAY – Cape May continues to urge Cape May County to speed up long-awaited work on Lafayette Street, a gateway entrance to the resort and the street that is home to the city’s elementary school.
According to comments from Deputy Mayor Stacy Sheehan at a Feb. 15 City Council meeting, the promised work to Lafayette has been continuously delayed and now has taken yet another change in priority in favor of county work on Pittsburgh Avenue. Both Lafayette and Pittsburgh are county roads in the city.
Of special concern is the element of the Lafayette Street project that would build “bump-ins” in front of the school to increase the safety of children being dropped off and picked up. A letter from the Cape May City Board of Education on the safety concerns and mentioning near-accidents is accompanying the resolution being sent to the county.
A letter from County Engineer Robert Church to City Manager Michael Voll explained that the Lafayette Street project includes more than resurfacing, with what Church calls “a substantial amount of new drainage improvements, new curb and sidewalk construction.”
Church holds out the possibility of a spring 2023 construction start but sees little possibility before then. He also indicated that the county may be able to move up the drop-off area improvements at the school as advance work, but, again, he references the many things that would have to happen for even this work to be completed before this summer.
Voll said he believed Church was “trying to work with the city,” but has few good options for changing the phasing of the project. Sheehan reiterated her concern that the city is finding out late that the project schedule changed from what it had previously been.
