The Townsends Inlet Bridge has been closed since September for a major reconstruction project.
By Donald Wittkowski
In the first bit of encouraging news in months, the reconstruction project for the Townsends Inlet Bridge connecting Sea Isle City with Avalon is now progressing better than expected and the span may reopen as soon as July 30, Cape May County announced Friday.
Closed since last September for an $8.6 million repair project, the 80-year-old bridge was originally supposed to reopen before Memorial Day weekend. However, the county disclosed in March that construction delays would push back the completion date until sometime in “late summer.”
The announcement Friday clarified the late summer timetable to specify that July 30 is now the target date to reopen. Favorable weather has helped construction crews finish a number of critical parts of the project and work “has progressed better than projected,” the county said in a statement.
“As a result of this progress, we anticipate being able to open the bridge earlier than late summer as initially projected.” The statement said. “Currently, we project a probable opening date to be on or about July 30. While we have a reasonable level of confidence supporting this earlier date, there remain a number of critical construction activities to be completed in the next three weeks that could have an impact on the final completion date.”
Sea Isle Mayor Leonard Desiderio, who also serves as a Cape May County freeholder, welcomed the latest news about the bridge, but tempered his optimism. He pointed out that the original deadline of May 22 for completing the bridge work was missed, so the revised timetable of July 30 should be greeted with some caution.
“I’m very happy to hear this, but seeing is believing,” Desiderio said. “I’m not going to get too excited until we get down the stretch and see if July 30 is for real.”
He added that he has been receiving regular reports about the bridge work from fellow Freeholder Will Morey, who remains optimistic that the project is back on track.
Desiderio and Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi have repeatedly warned about the negative economic impact on both towns by having such a vital transportation link closed down during the height of the summer tourism season. 
A massive crane sitting on top of a barge is part of the heavy construction equipment being used to repair the bridge.
