By Donald Wittkowski
Representatives of Sea Isle City attended the Cape May County Bridge Commission meeting Thursday, hoping to gain assurances that long-range plans could begin immediately to replace the antiquated Townsends Inlet Bridge with a new span.
The commission members were sympathetic, but politely told the Sea Isle delegation there is no money to pay the estimated $50 million to $100 million cost of a new bridge, and even if there were, it would probably take at least seven years to plan, design and build the project.
In other words, motorists traveling between Sea Isle and Avalon are stuck with a nearly 80-year-old bridge that has a history of shutdowns and was most recently closed from April through late June for emergency structural repairs.
“Money obviously is the issue,” lamented Patrick Rosenello, the bridge commission chairman who is also the mayor of North Wildwood.
Sea Isle officials have become increasingly frustrated with the bridge’s structural problems, with the most recent closing serving as a flashpoint for complaints about the economic harm of having a vital transportation link cut off to traffic just as the peak summer tourism season was getting underway at the Jersey Shore.
Christopher Glancey, left, president of the Sea Isle City Chamber of Commerce, talks to Cape May County Engineer Dale Foster during the bridge commission meeting.
“This county is really dependent on one industry. That industry is tourism,” said Christopher Glancey, president of the Sea Isle City Chamber of Commerce and Revitalization.
Glancey warned the bridge commission members that if the seashore communities can’t provide a smooth flow of traffic in and out of their towns, the tourists simply won’t come here for their vacations.
A local developer, Glancey has been building millions of dollars in retail, restaurant and residential projects in the past two years in Sea Isle’s Townsends Inlet section, close to the bridge. He said business was down in June when the bridge was closed, but has rebounded in July now that the span has reopened.
Glancey was among three Sea Isle representatives who attended the bridge commission meeting to urge the agency to immediately begin long-term planning to build a replacement span. He was accompanied by former Sea Isle Councilman John Divney and Joe Meier, a local resident who lives near the bridge.
Divney, who served on Council for a decade but decided not to seek re-election this year, asked the bridge commission what could be done to get the state and federal governments involved with the project. He wanted to know how Sea Isle officials and the public could help out.
Divney assured the bridge commission members he was not at the meeting to criticize them, but pointedly asked, “The question is: Is there a plan?”
“Where do we go next? How do we get this up to the right people?” Divney said.
Joe Meier, left, who lives near the Townsends Inlet Bridge, and former Sea Isle Councilman John Divney urged the bridge commission to begin planning for a new bridge.
Meier, who lives on 92
nd Street in Sea Isle, said the deteriorated bridge is being held together at this point with “Band-Aids.
“Look under the Townsends Inlet Bridge and look at the decrepit condition it is in,” Meier said.
Meier maintained there is widespread community agreement to build a new bridge, but said the effort needs “leadership and focus.”
In response, Rosenello and Cape May County Engineer Dale Foster cited a litany of regulatory and financial hurdles that must be overcome in order for the commission to even seriously consider building a new bridge.
They stressed that there is no funding for the project. Even if the money were available, it would probably take around seven years to plan and design the project, secure the regulatory permits and build the bridge, Foster said.
“Our biggest problem at the commission is the total cost of building a new bridge in the county,” he said.
Now that the emergency structural repairs have been completed, the county is planning to move ahead with previously scheduled maintenance upgrades on the bridge that will cost in the neighborhood of $6 million, Foster said.
The final cost of the emergency repairs is not yet known, although Foster estimated it will be around $2 million.
The Cape May County Board of Freeholders is expected next week to introduce an $18 million bond ordinance that will provide about $8 million in funding for improvements to three county bridges and four bridges operated by the Cape May County Bridge Commission, including Townsends Inlet.
During their board meeting Thursday, members of the Cape May County Bridge Commission said there is simply no money to build a new Townsends Inlet Bridge.
In all, the bridge commission operates a network of five bridges along the scenic Ocean Drive coastal route that is popular with tourists. In addition to the Townsends Inlet Bridge, they include the Ocean City-Longport Bridge, the Middle Thorofare Bridge, the Grassy Sound Bridge and the Corsons Inlet Bridge. Only the Ocean City-Longport Bridge is modern. The others date to the 1930s or 1940s.
Following its most recent closing, the Townsends Inlet Bridge has been attracting the most attention – and the most complaints.
In June, the Sea Isle City Chamber of Commerce, the Avalon Chamber of Commerce and the 7 Mile Business Community Association, an organization that promotes business and tourism in Avalon, jointly sent a letter to the bridge commission urging construction of a new Townsends Inlet Bridge.
The letter noted that the bridge’s closure over the Memorial Day weekend had a “huge negative impact” on local businesses and tourism in both towns during the traditional start of the lucrative summer season.
“Major holidays like Memorial Day weekend and the Fourth of July account for the two most major income-generating holidays,” the letter said. “Travel from all our neighboring communities has a huge impact to the bottom line and the financial health and survival of our business community.”
The bridge was closed on April 3 after structural cracks and deterioration were found in the support piles during an underwater inspection. The most recent closing added to a series of shutdowns suffered by the bridge over the years for repairs, upkeep and related road construction.
The bridge shutdown severed a crucial part of Ocean Drive, which connects the barrier islands of Cape May County. During the closure, motorists had to detour miles out of their way to the Garden State Parkway or Route 9 to travel between Sea Isle and Avalon.
Repair work was done on a cluster of three support piles originally installed in 1962 to reinforce the bridge after a monster storm pummeled the Jersey Shore that year and caused the bottom of Townsends Inlet to drop. The piles are part of a pier on the bridge’s bay side near Avalon.
The county said the repairs took longer than expected because of the challenges of working underwater and the difficulties posed by the swift currents sweeping through Townsends Inlet.
