Sea Isle to Reconstruct Part of Central Ave.

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Sea Isle City is preparing for the next major phase of Central Avenue’s reconstruction as the shore town continues its strategy to rebuild its roads and protect low-lying neighborhoods from flooding. City Council at its meeting Tuesday awarded a $773,800 contract to Arawak Paving Co. Inc. of Hammonton to reconstruct Central from 56th Street to 69th Street. The project is being partially funded by a grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. City officials are scheduled to meet with Arawak next week to discuss the timing of the project, but no work will be done during the summer, Mayor Leonard Desiderio said. Traditionally, the city builds its road and drainage projects during the quieter off-season months to avoid any construction disruptions when the town is crowded with summer vacationers. Road projects such as Central Avenue’s reconstruction are a key part of Sea Isle’s efforts to reduce flooding in vulnerable neighborhoods. The section of Central from 56th Street to 69th Street parallels the back bay. Central Avenue is one of the roads that Sea Isle has been rebuilding in recent years. As one of the city’s main arteries, Central has been the focus of a series of road projects in recent years. In the fall of 2021, the city repaved a stretch of Central Avenue from 69th Street to 84th Street under a nearly $500,000 contract. In another upcoming project, Council also awarded a $457,737 contract on Tuesday to Perna Finnigan Inc. of Vineland for improvements to the water and sewer systems. One portion of the project will replace an old sanitary sewer line on 40th Street from Landis Avenue to Central Avenue. “This will finalize the removal and replacement of all old asbestos cement main sanitary pipelines in the city,” Desiderio said in a statement. The other part of the contract includes the replacement of an old, undersized water main on Central Avenue from 40th Street to West Jersey Avenue. The work will replace aged infrastructure as well as improve the pressure in the water system south of JFK Boulevard, the mayor said.