Canines enjoy Dog Beach on Thursday before parking lot construction work started for the day.
Kathy McAndrew's trip to the Malibu Beach Wildlife Management Area on Wednesday was blocked by orange fencing, "no access" signs and unbudging construction workers.
Access to Dog Beach is expected to be restored for the weekend but blocked again on Monday, Aug. 3.
She had made the trip with her sister and her chocolate Labrador retriever.
A post-Superstorm Sandy parking lot improvement project prevented McAndrew and a host of other visitors from Philadelphia, Camden, Burlington County and many nearby towns from using what's commonly known as "Dog Beach."
The small stretch of sand on Great Egg Harbor Inlet just north of the Ocean City-Longport Bridge is one of the only beaches along the Jersey Shore where dogs are permitted in the summer.
Access is expected to be restored this weekend, but blocked again on Monday.
"As of today, the construction work is done for the weekend," state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Bob Considine said on Friday (July 31). "They are improvising to allow pedestrian traffic to safely walk through the construction area this weekend."
Considine said parking will be available in the (fishing pier) lot across the roadway.
He said there will be “No Parking” signs in the area of the bird habitat and Division of Fish and Wildlife conservation officers will be on the scene to make sure folks aren’t walking into the protected bird habitat area.
Because the parking lot was closed, some visitors apparently accessed the beach through an area currently closed off for endangered bird nesting, Considine said.
He said the lot is owned by the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, but the work is being done by Cape May County.
County Engineer Dale Foster said that
Monday will be the last day of no pedestrian access to the beach through the unpaved parking lot. He said the lot will reopen to cars and pedestrians on Tuesday (Aug. 4).
Foster said that even though the area is part of Atlantic County, Cape May County has jurisdictional responsibility for that part of the county road.
