By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
No one is going to say goodbye to the Townsends Inlet Bridge anytime soon, but the multiyear process for eventually replacing the antiquated structure will begin in about two months.
Cape May County is getting ready to seek proposals from engineering firms for a “concept development plan” that represents a key preliminary step in the bridge’s replacement.
“We’re basically starting that process for T.I.,” said Lewis Donofrio, chief engineer for the Cape May County Bridge Commission, the agency that operates the Townsends Inlet Bridge.
Donofrio called the concept development plan “the path for replacement.”
The county will begin reaching out to engineering firms in about 60 days in a formal request for proposals, he noted.
Built in 1939 during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, the Townsends Inlet Bridge is a vital link between Sea Isle City and Avalon. It is one of five toll bridges operated by the Cape May County Bridge Commission that connect the shore towns from Ocean City to Cape May along the scenic Ocean Drive.
The county does not have the money to replace the Townsends Inlet Bridge, but hopes to eventually secure state and federal funding to build a new one. Cost estimates for a new bridge range from $65.7 million to $167.7 million, according to a county transportation report released in 2020.
In the meantime, the county is preparing to launch a $1 million study for the concept development plan to begin the process for the bridge’s replacement.
“This is a plan for replacement. However, it will take years,” said Scott Halliday, vice chairman of the Cape May County Bridge Commission’s board.
Giant construction cranes hover over the Townsends Inlet Bridge in 2019 for an $8.6 million repair project.
Cost estimates for a replacement range so widely because there are different alignments that a new bridge could follow when it is built over Townsends Inlet. Some proposed alignments would take the bridge closer to the ocean or bay, while others would follow the same path as the existing span. The concept development plan will study the different options.
The study will also look at replacing the approach road to the bridge. Over the years, the approach road on the Avalon side has been vulnerable to storm waves crashing over a protective rock seawall, forcing the bridge to temporarily close to traffic.
Preliminary work such as completing the designs, engineering and obtaining the regulatory permits might take as long as six years. Construction of a new bridge would add another three years, according to the county transportation report.
To keep the old bridge in service, the county undertook an $8.6 million reconstruction project in 2018 and 2019 that replaced seven deteriorated spans on the Avalon side.
Townsends Inlet Bridge allows motorists to make a direct hop to travel between Sea Isle and Avalon. When the bridge is closed, drivers must follow a lengthy detour on the Garden State Parkway or Route 9 for trips between both towns.
The bridge has undergone a series of shutdowns in recent years for structural repairs, maintenance work and related road construction. On top of everything else are the occasional closures caused by the waves crashing over the seawall on the Avalon side.
Lately, the bridge commission has been keeping an eye on beach erosion occurring on the bay side of Townsends Inlet in Sea Isle. The inlet’s powerful currents stripped the beach of its top layer of powdery sand last spring. But recently, the sand has returned in a naturally occurring process.
“The sand has migrated back. In terms of our structure, we’re fine,” Donofrio said of the bridge not being threatened by the shifting sands.
The toll is currently $1.50 on the Townsends Inlet Bridge, but will increase by 50 cents per year from 2022 to 2024.
During its board meeting on Jan. 20, the bridge commission approved a three-stage toll increase for all five of its bridges to generate more revenue for their maintenance and repairs.
Tolls will increase by 50 cents in 2022, 50 cents in 2023 and 50 cents in 2024. Currently the toll is $1.50. By the time the toll increase is fully implemented in 2024, it will cost $3 for cars to cross the five bridges. The toll hike for this year is tentatively scheduled to begin in mid-March.
With the toll increases, revenue is projected to increase to $4.2 million in 2022, $5.1 million in 2023 and $6.1 million in 2024. Of that revenue, $550,000 would go toward bridge projects in 2022, $1.5 million in 2023 and $2.5 million in 2024, commission documents show.
In addition to the Townsends Inlet Bridge, the commission operates the Ocean City-Longport Bridge, Corsons Inlet Bridge, Middle Thorofare Bridge and Grassy Sound Bridge.
The Townsends Inlet, Corsons Inlet, Middle Thorofare and Grassy Sound bridges date to the 1930s or 1940s and are often in need of maintenance or repair projects to keep them in operation.
