By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Motorists traveling along the Roosevelt Boulevard-34th Street entryway to Ocean City’s south end are treated to expansive views of miles of marshlands lining both sides of the road.
The roadway is so low in some spots that drivers may get the sensation at times that they are actually in the marshlands.
Hoping to protect traffic from floodwaters seeping out of the marshlands, Cape May County has plans to elevate the vital roadway that links Ocean City and the Marmora section of Upper Township.
Bob Church, the county engineer, said the project is currently in the conceptual phase. There is no set date at this time to complete construction on the county road, he added.
“However due to the condition of the existing asphalt paving and the need for resurfacing, ideally our objective would be to raise the road when the road needs to undergo another resurfacing. However, design time, permits, easements and funding will impact the schedule,” Church said in an email explaining the couny’s plans.
The Roosevelt Boulevard-34th Street corridor is the second-busiest gateway into Ocean City, behind the state-owned Route 52 Causeway-Ninth Street Bridge in the center of town. On average, 20,000 vehicles each day cross the 34th Street Bridge, the most heavily traveled bridge in the county network.
According to plans, the Roosevelt Boulevard-34th Street artery will be raised along a 1.6-mile stretch from Bay Avenue in Ocean City to the Garden State Parkway entrance in Marmora.
Exactly how high the road will be elevated will depend on the final designs. Church noted that the portion of the road east of the 34th Street Bridge will be raised by a “more significant amount” because it is more than a foot lower than the west side of the bridge.
“It is envisioned that the west side could be raised by simply adding asphalt base and surface courses to elevate this portion of the road to match the easterly side. The easterly side will likely have to be elevated through a roadway reconstruction process,” he said.
He explained that the road would be raised as “high as practical” to mitigate storm flooding.
“The objective would be to establish a minimum paving elevation and hold that through the corridor so there would be no low spots that could cause the road to be prematurely closed due to flooding,” he said.
Early estimates of the cost of the project are in the $4 million to $6 million range. A better estimate will follow once the designs are tightened up, Church said.
No construction will be needed on the 34th Street Bridge to accommodate the road elevation. Once the road is raised, the approach to the bridge will be at a more gradual incline than what exists now, Church said.
The county’s road-raising project will be coordinated with a separate flood-mitigation project by Ocean City for the Merion Park neighborhood adjacent to the Roosevelt Boulevard-34th Street corridor.
In December, City Council awarded a $325,600 consulting contract to the engineering firm Michael Baker International Inc. to develop conceptual designs for the Merion Park flood-control plan.
“Before any design work is contemplated, we will be coordinating with our municipal partners about the project and getting their input. The project will develop more momentum as the Michael Baker plans advance,” Church said of the county’s proposal to raise the roadway.
According to preliminary plans by Michael Baker, two new stormwater pumping stations may be built along Roosevelt Boulevard at the intersection of Bay Avenue and at the intersection of Waterview Boulevard. A third may be built on Roosevelt Boulevard between Westminster Avenue and Vernon Lane. A fourth pumping station may also be considered at another location.
Other improvements under consideration for this part of Merion Park include new drainage pipes, road reconstruction, landscaped berms that would act as flood barriers and new gutters, curbs and sidewalks.
Before construction begins, the city must complete the preliminary work, including obtaining environmental permits for the project and awarding a construction contract. The tentative timetable for construction to begin is next fall.
