Wildwood Boardwalk Reconstruction Drone Tour – Nov 2022

One of the major projects taking place in the Wildwoods is the Wildwood Boardwalk Reconstruction.

This project is a 5 phase, multi-year project which will see most of Wildwood’s section of the boardwalk refurbished and replaced.

The Wildwood Boardwalk Reconstruction may sound familiar to you because this year Wildwood completed its first phase.

Before we break down the new phase, let’s talk about why this is taking place.

The first version of the Wildwood Boardwalk was built in 1899. While this might make it sound like the oldest boardwalk in New Jersey, but Atlantic City’s Boardwalk which opened up 29 years earlier.

Fast forward many decades and a boardwalk made up of concrete supports and a wooden top debuted. For decades this boardwalk stood the test of time. This is the same boardwalk that endured heavy flooding, hurricanes, and insane storms.

By the time 2010 came around the boardwalk was starting to show its age. For many years the city had been fixing the cracks and keeping them maintained with the hopes that it could be replaced.

During the pandemic, it became obvious that something had to be done once sections of the boardwalk blew off during a storm. At that time this section was being worked on but it drew enough attention to bring the Governor of New Jersey to inspect the damage.

After his visit, Governor Phil Murphy promised to help start a reconstruction project.

The city got to work on getting a plan on how this could be done without bankrupting the city. With funding coming from the state’s budget, grant money, and a little bit of local money, the project could begin.

To save costs, the city broke the project down into 5 phases. Phase 1 was from Oak to Maple Ave. It was completed just before Memorial Day Weekend 2022.

Phase 2 of the project is underway and picks up from Maple Ave and runs all the way up to 26th street.

(At this time we don’t know what the other phase sections will look like or when they will begin)

Getting the boardwalk up to the new standard, it takes a ton of work.

First construction crew removes benches, trashcans, and railings. Afterward, large cuts are made into the concrete tramcar pathways. These sections are then removed via crane and placed on the beach for a company to haul them away.

Once all the wood on the boardwalk is removed, crews get working on fixing any cracks in the supports. While support checks are underway, another crew starts preparing molds for the new concrete beams. This supports the weight of the tramcars but will only be seen from under the boardwalk.

When the beams are completed the crews add 4-in x 6-in pressure-treated lumber as a base and Brazilian teak placed on top.

At this very second crews have just started pouring the molds for the new concrete beams.

All this and more can be seen in our drone video below.

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