By Donald Wittkowski
For a while, it seemed as though parts of Sea Isle City had been turned into an obstacle course of orange cones, barriers and “Road Closed” signs.
A few of those signs remain up, but most have disappeared recently as construction crews race to complete the road work well before the arrival of the Memorial Day weekend and crush of summer tourists.
Streets that had been stripped down to the bare dirt are now coated with a shiny, smooth layer of brand new asphalt.
“A lot of work has been done,” city spokeswoman Katherine Custer said. “The new, smooth roads seem to be everywhere. The improvement project seems to be pleasing everyone. Who doesn’t like smooth roads?”
Many of the streets from one end of the island to the other have been repaved in the past year after they were dug up as part of a comprehensive upgrade of natural gas service by South Jersey Gas Co.
Now approaching the finish line, the latest round of work involves an $839,000 contract awarded to South State Inc., of Bridgeton, N.J., to repave streets largely in the mid-section of town that have had utility reconstruction.
For motorists, it probably seemed like a lot of streets had been closed for a long time, Custer said. But she noted that the work is being completed at a steady clip in a way that should hold down costs.
“While it was an inconvenience for some time, it is a cost-effective way of getting all this work done,” she said.
One key artery that was recently completed is 48th Street serving the library between Central Avenue and Park Road.
At one point, the beach blocks of 52nd, 53rd, 54th and 55th streets from Landis Avenue to the Promenade were simultaneously under construction. Those streets are completed now, according to a construction update on the city’s website.
Lynne Shirk, a resident of 54th Street, appeared at the City Council meeting on March 26 to ask why it was taking so long for her road and her neighbors’ streets to get repaved. In an interview Friday, Shirk said her street was completed the day after she appeared at the meeting.
“I’m pleased,” she said. “It seems all of the streets I was concerned about were fixed the next day.”
During the meeting, Councilman William Kehner told Shirk that a spate of cold and rainy weather in March and the closure of an asphalt plant for a week or two had slowed down the road work. In the last two weeks, though, construction has accelerated.
Now glistening with new pavement and the “Road Closed’ sign no longer there, 54th Street offers Shirk a straight shot to the beach again.
“I can actually get to the beach now on my own street. I’m glad,” Shirk said.
