By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
It seems that the Townsends Inlet Bridge has become one of the most romantic spots at the shore.
If you’re skeptical, take a walk underneath the bridge and look at all of the expressions of love scrawled on the massive concrete piers that serve as the support system for the structure.
“JMS KSK” reads one inscription followed by two hand-drawn hearts. “JM + TJ” declares another.
But the most noticeable piece of romantic bridge art covers a large section of a pier in mural-like fashion: “Fly High K.T.” it says in big letters accompanied by a heart symbol.
Actually, these affectionate musings are little more than spray-painted graffiti marring the bridge that links Sea Isle City with Avalon over Townsends Inlet.
The beach on the Sea Isle side of the bridge provides easy access to the big concrete piers that serve as a gigantic canvas of sorts for love birds and graffiti artists.
The agency that operates the Townsends Inlet Bridge says graffiti is periodically removed by Cape May County cleanup crews, but more of it shows up later on.
“It gets remediated and then it kind of comes back,” said Lewis Donofrio, chief engineer for the Cape May County Bridge Commission.
Donofrio explained that there is “no formal anti-graffiti policy at this time” so the bridge commission depends on the county’s Public Works crews to clean off the piers.
“We work that out with the county Public Works Department, depending on their forces. They take care of the maintenance end, so we see what can be done in-house versus having to go out with a contact to do the cleanup,” he said during the bridge commission’s monthly board meeting Thursday.
Donofrio believes that the Townsends Inlet Bridge has the biggest graffiti problem among the five toll bridges operated by the Cape May County Bridge Commission along the Ocean Drive.
“I would have to say yes. I’ve seen more at Townsends Inlet, but I don’t want to say there’s no graffiti at any other bridge,” he said.
Members of the bridge commission’s board said during Thursday’s meeting that they have never seen graffiti on the Ocean City-Longport Bridge or the Middle Thorofare Bridge. No one mentioned the commission’s other two spans, the Corsons Inlet Bridge or the Grassy Sound Bridge.
The way it is built, the Townsends Inlet Bridge hovers over the beach in the southern tip of Sea Isle, making it an easy target for graffiti artists who simply walk out to the piers.
Romantic etchings are not the only form of graffiti on the bridge. Most of them are run-of-the-mill scribblings of someone’s name or initials.
Others are more creative or artistic. For instance, a three-pointed blue crown has been drawn on one pier anchored in the water.
The most bizarre piece of graffiti includes multiple images of a man’s face surrounded by a monkey’s face, a garden gnome and man sitting with his legs crossed amid the words “Don’t follow leaders.”
This display of graffiti won’t be permanent, however. Donofrio said all of it is expected to be removed by early spring.
