If you plan on visiting the Wildwoods Boardwalk from now until May you should know that a decent amount of the boardwalk will be closed.
The city of Wildwood is continuing the reconstruction project of its section of the Wildwoods Boardwalk. The second phase of the reconstruction project will see the repair and replacement of the boardwalk from 26th street to Maple Avenue.
Those businesses such as Sam’s Pizza Palace and the Retro Arcade & Fascination will still be open during construction. To visit these businesses walk over to the ramp and enter via their ramp entrances.
The second phase will proceed just like phase one which was from Oak Avenue to Maple Avenue. The contractors will remove the wood top layer and the tramcar concrete paths. Afterward, they will repair the concrete supports, build needed tramcar concrete supports and add the wood on top.
This phase started October 5th and will be closed until May as per the city press release.
To see how phase one was built check out the video at the bottom of this article.
Phase two will be one of the most expensive sections to complete falling at just under $8 million. The good news is most of the funding is coming from grants.
New Jersey Governor, Phil Murphy committed $4 million for the project which is the same around the state paid for phase one last year.
This past Spring, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced a $3.2 million grant, to be matched by $845,000 in local money. That grant was funded through the EDA American Rescue Plan Program.
For the first phase, the plan was to use a tropical hardwood, Brazilian teak which is called cumaru. Unfortunately due to the shipment backlog the wood was stuck and wouldn’t arrive in time to finish the first phases.
The city had then decided to finish that section with finished pine which is what the rest of the boardwalk is laid with.
Phase two will be using the cumaru wood that did arrive over the summer.
A third phase is planned to include the blocks from Schellenger Avenue to Spencer Avenue, expected to take place after the summer of 23.
Below is a video going over Phase one of the project.
Check out these other Wildwood videos and articles.
