New Info,
UPPER TOWNSHIP — Cape May County expects to begin demolition of the Beesleys Point Bridge this fall, probably in October, by removing the drawbridge section in the center.
County engineer Dale Foster on Monday said the county’s obligation is to remove about three of the 120 individual sections of the aging 4,829-foot-long bridge.
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority plans to begin removing the rest of the bridge in 2013 and will pay the costs. Foster said the county’s work only represents about 3 percent of the bridge but it’s a key area for vessels heading to boatyards up the Tuckahoe River and other marine traffic.
“This is just to open up the navigational channel, so it’s less restrictive. It’s fairly tight. The goal in the fall is to open up the navigational channel a bit more,” Foster said.
The 28-foot-wide bridge, constructed in 1928 by a private bridge company, has been closed to vehicular traffic since 2004 due to structural problems. The draw section has been kept open since that time.
Cape May County bought the bridge for $1 in 2008 from the Beesleys Point Bridge Co. with plans to restore it, but when cost estimates skyrocketed from $20 million to more than $32 million the plans were scrapped.
Foster said the work will be done in the fall due to restrictions that protect fish and marine turtles at other times of the year. The work could be done any time, but then coffer dams would have to be constructed around the demolition work, elevating the costs, now projected at about $1 million, he said. The county is fronting the money but expects to be reimbursed by the state.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_06063d0e-cfa0-11e1-a2ab-0019bb2963f4.html
