File/Ventnor opens the beach for the 2019 season.
As of Sunday (Jan. 4), crews from Fred M. Schiavone Construction had nearly completed construction of the substructure for new block of the Ocean City Boardwalk between Sixth Street and Plaza Place. Only a small section at the top of the Sixth Street boardwalk ramp remains to be built.
Sections of pre-constructed decking are on site and ready to be placed.
The work is part of a multi-year project to replace the entire boardwalk between Fifth and 12th streets. Boardwalk traffic has been detoured since October, when crews began to demolish that one-block stretch of boardwalk slated for reconstruction in 2015. The cost for this phase is expected to be $1.8 million.
The project is expected to be complete by the end of March, but at this stage, it appears work is ahead of schedule.
The final stages of what will be a year-long project to improve drainage and repave Bay Avenue between Sixth and 18th streets are near completion.
Crews are pouring concrete for sidewalks and gutters on the east (ocean) side of Bay Avenue between Ninth and 13th streets. When that is complete, work to repave the final stretch of road between Ninth and 13th streets will begin.
The project is expected to be complete in early February. The work is part of a $3.3 million Cape May County project on the county road.
Ocean City officials expect to participate in a preconstruction meeting this month with representatives from the federal Army Corps of Engineers and state Department of Environmental Protection to learn more details about the schedule for rebuilding eroded beaches in Ocean City between 34th and 59th streets.
The tentative start date is April for staging equipment and May for starting to pump new sand onto the beaches.
A temporary sand berm at the southern end of the island held against the tides of a winter nor'easter in early December.
Read more about the project.
