A month after two blocks of the Ocean City Boardwalk closed to make way for a reconstruction project, the first signs of progress are beginning to show.
Work crews are starting to tear up boardwalk decking as they prepare to demolish then rebuild the boardwalk between Plaza Place (just north of Seventh Street) and Eighth Street.
The project faces a mid-March deadline as the start of Ocean City’s spring events season starts early this year — with Easter falling on March 27.
A month into a similar project last year, a different contractor had completely removed both decking and substructure of the boardwalk between Sixth Street and Plaza Place.
But crews from Walters Marine Construction of Ocean View have reportedly been hampered by a natural gas line that runs under the boardwalk near the line of storefronts.
“We’re working cooperatively with gas company to maintain service and get the job done at the same time,” Ocean City Business Administrator Jim Mallon said.
With the gas company now shutting down and rerouting lines, the project can start in earnest. Prior to this week, only demolition of the boardwalk ramps at Plymouth Place and Seventh Street had been completed.
The work is part of the third phase of a multi-year reconstruction project that will replace the boardwalk between Fifth Street and 12th Street. The project last year took four months — with a block and a half of the boardwalk closed from mid-October to mid-February.
Runners, pedestrians and cyclists are being detoured off the Boardwalk at Sixth Street and Eighth Street and sent down to Atlantic Avenue. The detour adds about 0.41 miles to a run the length of the boardwalk (from 2.45 miles to 2.86 miles).
The project work runs only in the off-season and began at Fifth Street in fall 2013. It will continue from Eighth Street to somewhere past the Ocean City Music Pier (2016-17), Music Pier to somewhere past 10th Street (2017-18), and to the finish at 12th Street (2018-19).
Walters Marine underbid the contractor for the first two phases of the project, Fred M. Schiavone Construction, and eight other companies with a winning bid of $1,888,347. The project will include adding two more access points for the disabled and a new pavilion on the ocean side of the boardwalk.
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