A Facebook photo shows the trash truck on the damaged part of the Boardwalk. (Courtesy of Michael J. Phillips II)
A small section of the Ocean City Boardwalk that is being reconstructed with new wood decking collapsed Easter Sunday under the weight of a municipal trash truck.
City spokesman Doug Bergen said the damage was confined to “a couple of pieces of Boardwalk decking” near 12th Street.
The area is being reinforced and redecked as part of an ongoing Boardwalk reconstruction project between 12th Street and 14th Street, he said.
A municipal trash truck caused the damage while it was on the Boardwalk, Bergen confirmed of social media posts about the incident.
Some of the comments on social media questioned why a trash truck was on the Boardwalk in the first place, even though they are a relatively common sight while emptying the trash cans.
“Damn, who drives a trash truck on the Boardwalk? LOL,” Derrik Michel wrote on Facebook.
Other Facebook posters poked fun at the incident.
“Sir, you can’t park there,” Mike Haney joked.
“I hate it when that happens,” Michael Grogan humorously wrote.
The Boardwalk’s reconstruction between 12th and 14th streets should be finished within a couple of weeks. The section of the Boardwalk closest to the storefronts between 12th and 14th remains open, Bergen said.
The city is giving parts of the Boardwalk an overhaul as part of a $7 million reconstruction consisting of new decking, a new support foundation, new railings and new ramps. A $4.9 million grant from the state’s Boardwalk Preservation Fund will pay for most of the project.
The first phase of the Boardwalk’s reconstruction, an eight-block section between St. Charles Place and Fifth Street, was completed in late March.
After the construction work is done between 12th and 14th streets, the city will rebuild the section of Boardwalk between 14th and 16th streets after the summer tourism season.
