By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The Middle Thorofare Bridge, a key route for traffic at the shore traveling between Wildwood Crest and Cape May, remains closed to motorists following a mechanical failure that has left the antiquated drawbridge stuck in the upright position.
“The bridge has a total failure of the drive shaft motor that was used to open the bridge on demand and failed at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The bridge electrical engineers performed many tests, concluding that the motor was inoperable and irreparable,” Cape May County said in a news release Sunday announcing the bridge’s closure.
The Cape May County Bridge Commission, the bridge operator, is currently reviewing all options available both nationally and globally to find the highly specialized motor and replacing it as soon as possible, but the best-case scenario will take “many weeks,” the release stated.
For now, the county can only estimate that the bridge will remain closed to motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians for an undetermined amount of time.
“There is no timeline on reopening at this time,” Wildwood Crest Mayor Don Cabrera posted on Facebook on Sunday morning. “It could be an extended period of time.”
Boating traffic, however, will still be able to pass underneath because the drawbridge is stuck in the upright position. Commercial fishing vessels will still have access to the ocean and their docks, the county said.
More information will be provided to the public and media once it becomes available, according to the news release.
Drivers heading into Wildwood Crest and other nearby shore towns should plan alternate routes around the bridge.
The Middle Thorofare Bridge is one of five toll bridges operated by the Cape May County Bridge Commission along the scenic Ocean Drive between Ocean City and Cape May.
The drawbridge opened in 1940 during former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration.
In addition to Middle Thorofare, the commission’s Corsons Inlet, Townsends Inlet and Grassy Sound bridges also date to the 1940s and are considered “structurally deficient (and) functionally obsolete and are being programmed for future replacement,” according to a comprehensive bridge report prepared by the bridge commission and the Cape May County Engineering Department in 2022.
Only the commission’s Ocean City-Longport Bridge is a modern span.
The cost to replace the Middle Thorofare Bridge is estimated at $238 million to $243 million, the report says.
No firm timetable has been given for the bridge’s replacement. In addition to using its own money, the county would have to secure state and federal funding to help finance the project.
