An unfinished project to repair and repave Bay Avenue between Sixth and 18th streets will resume in a week.
Cape May County Engineer Dale Foster said last week that the project contractor will begin to work again on Monday, Sept. 15.
A concrete crew will pick up at 13th Street, where the project left off (after starting at 18th Street), and finish paving to 11th Street. At the same time, a drainage crew will start at Sixth Street and work toward 11th Street. That portion of the road will be repaved after drainage work is complete. Motorists should expect delays or detours on either side of Ninth Street as the work begins. Foster said the paving work typically involves single-lane closings. The drainage work usually involves closing one entire block at a time during work periods. Asphalt Paving Systems of Hammonton has a $3.3 million contract to reconstruct storm pipes and drains, gutters and sidewalks, and to repave the stretch of Cape May County road between Sixth and 18th streets, a major north-south thoroughfare in Ocean City. The project began in February and was originally scheduled to be complete before the summer, but the project was delayed by a snowy winter and utility work as New Jersey American Water Company (NJAWC) replaced water mains in advance of the repaving work. Crews worked until early June, then ceased during the peak summer traffic months in Ocean City. Foster said the county has no timetable yet for a separate fall project — to eliminate two lanes of traffic on West Avenue south of 34th Street and create two buffered bicycle lanes. He said the county is still reviewing plans with the city.
