Popular fishing pier near Ocean City to get facelift

With the bitterly cold temperatures, snow and ice gripping the shore right now, it may be hard to think of those leisurely summer days of casting a fishing line into the bay.

But when summer finally does arrive, one of the most popular fishing spots along the Great Egg Harbor Inlet will look a lot better than it has for years.

The 500-foot-long fishing pier next to the Ocean City-Longport Bridge is getting a nearly $700,000 facelift, including new wood railings, plastic benches, picnic tables, fencing, trash receptacles and portable toilets. There will also be new fish-cleaning stations.

Overall, the public agency that operates the bridge plans to dress up the entrance to the pier to make it a much more attractive area for anglers, picnickers and sightseers to enjoy the picturesque bay.

Kevin Lare, executive director of the Cape May County Bridge Commission, said the idea is to create “quality opportunities not only for fishing and crabbing, but also opportunities for families and friends to have a nice picnic and enjoy the views.”

    Deteriorated benches like this one in 2024 will be thrown out and replaced with new ones made of plastic
  

The bridge commission has awarded a $668,300 contract to Walters Marine Construction Inc. of Ocean View to build the project.

It was the second time the bridge commission went out to bid for the project. The first round of bids were rejected by the commission last year when they came in significantly higher. At that time, the lowest bid was $769,200.

With Walters Marine Construction now on board as the contractor, the work can get underway. Ideally, the improvements will be completed before Memorial Day, the traditional kickoff for the busy summer tourism season at the shore, Lare said.

The fishing pier was created when the new Ocean City-Longport Bridge opened in 2002. A 500-foot section of the demolished old bridge was saved on the Egg Harbor Township side of the Great Egg Harbor Inlet for the pier.

During the summer tourism season, the pier is popular with anglers as well as sightseers who savor the panoramic views of the bay, marshlands and wildlife unfolding for miles.

The pier itself, though, is not so attractive. The wood railings that run the length of the pier are rotted in places, benches have holes in them, trash cans are deteriorated and even the concrete deck is dingy.

Cosmetic improvements will also include making repairs to the concrete deck, as well as replacing the compression seal that runs along the middle of the entire pier.

    The old fish-cleaning stations will be also replaced by new ones.