Construction material and new pipes are piled up near the Garden State Parkway entrance off Sea Isle Boulevard.
By Donald Wittkowski
The newly built elevated section of Sea Isle Boulevard will not be ready for the rush of summer tourists.
In a setback for motorists, traffic on the main entryway into Sea Isle City will continue using the existing, low-lying lanes this spring and summer instead of switching over to a new roadway that is much higher, Mayor Leonard Desiderio said.
For the past three years, construction crews have been rebuilding the boulevard to create a higher and drier evacuation route for the flood-prone barrier island community. The $12.7 million project, under the supervision of Cape May County, will elevate Sea Isle Boulevard by 4.5 feet.
Plans originally called for traffic to switch over from the old roadway to the newly elevated section this winter or spring, but the timetable has been pushed back until September, Desiderio said on Tuesday while giving an update on the project during a City Council meeting.
Clearly frustrated by the construction delays, the mayor has begun ridiculing the project as the “boulevard of broken dreams.”
“That’s why I call it the boulevard of broken dreams, because when is it finally going to happen?” Desidero said in an interview.
Heavy construction equipment is being used to install a new sewer pipeline underneath the road.
The new road will not only be higher, but will be wider than the cramped lanes that currently handle traffic in and out of Sea Isle. During peak travel times in the busy summer tourist season, it is not uncommon for traffic to get backed up heading into town.
The multifaceted project, which began in 2014, is being done in phases. The current phase includes paving the road and shifting traffic onto the newly built elevated portion.
At first, the county said the new road would be paved in January and be ready for traffic by February. Later, the timetable was revised to have the paving completed by February and the roadway open by March. Now, the grand opening is not expected to happen until September.
The elevated road is being built on top of what is now a dirt embankment about 1.7 miles long. The massive embankment is currently tucked behind concrete construction barriers on the north side of the road.
The low-lying south side of the roadway that is currently used by traffic will also be elevated by 4.5 feet. Huge mounds of dirt were supposed to be added to that side of the road in 2017, but Foster has said the latest delays will push back that part of the project between six and eight months.
The dirt will sit there in 2017 and 2018 to go through a process known as “surcharging,” which will allow it to become compact enough for the next part of the elevated road to be built on top of it.
The county had hoped to complete construction on that portion of the road by 2019, about a year ahead of schedule. The delays, though, suggest that the original 2020 target date for completion is more likely, Foster said.
Construction material and new pipes are piled up near the Garden State Parkway entrance off Sea Isle Boulevard.
Reconstruction of Sea Isle Boulevard also will include new bulkheading at Sunk’s Creek to help protect the roadway from erosion. The bulkhead work will also create public access to fishing areas along the creek.
Diamondback terrapins will also benefit from the road project. New fencing will be installed to prevent the turtles from venturing on the roadway and being crushed by cars, as they often are now. Culverts built underneath the road will provide a safe route for the diamondbacks as they make their way out of the marshlands to nest in sandy soil.
The final phase of the project involves wetlands mitigation, and should wrap up by the spring of 2020. As part of the project’s environmental permits, new wetlands must be created to replace those that were filled in during road construction.
