New Ocean City entrance/exit will be 20 inches higher with bike lanes
OCEAN CITY — Anyone driving on Roosevelt Boulevard should notice something rising between the bridge and Bay Avenue — it’s the road itself, and it is going up 20 inches.
Workers have been elevating the north side of the boulevard as part of Cape May County’s reconstruction to improve the road and make it less flood-prone during storms and exceptionally high tides, which can combine to make that exit-entrance impassable.
When it is done, it will include bike lanes in both directions where none exists now.
Construction began in late December when crews put up concrete barriers to block off the two lanes on the north side. They reconfigured the two east-bound lanes on the south side for one heading east and the other west.
Work had already been completed on the boulevard’s auxiliary road to the south, which is on the other side of the median. That included improving its drainage system.
The turn lane from Bay Avenue onto Roosevelt Boulevard west has been blocked.
Signs were erected prohibiting left turns onto Bay from eastbound boulevard traffic, directing drivers to West Avenue to head north. A good number of drivers ignore the signs and continue to make left-hand turns anyway.
According to the city, the entire roadway will be raised above the current paving surface by as much as 20 inches to maintain a lowest elevation of 6.3 feet.
When complete, there will be two 11-foot-wide travel lanes going east and a 5-foot-wide striped universal green bike lane. The narrower lanes are expected to reduce motorists’ speed entering the city.
Heading west there will be a 15-foot-wide travel lane and a 5-foot-wide bike lane with the U-turn loop remaining under the bridge.
Work is expected to be complete by May.
The second phase will be from Bay Avenue to West Avenue with raised intersections along West at 35th, 36th, 37th, 43rd, 44th and 45th streets. The second phase is expected to begin in the fall of this year.
Fourth Ward Councilman Dave Winslow was updated last week on the status of the work by county engineer Robert Church.
Church said overall the project is “going pretty well” and that they have “no major issues.”
The county was waiting for the Verizon contractor to reset manhole castings and was not expected to be on site until Jan. 19.
Church said if Verizon holds to its schedule, base paving on the north side of the boulevard would be done by mid-February and, weather permitting, traffic would be switched around March 1. Traffic would then use the north side for east- and west-bound travel while the south-side lanes are reconstructed and raised.
Winslow pointed out the sub-base being put down now may appear to be extra high at this point, but that it would settle before crews do the paving.
The councilman has been pushing to get the grass-and-tree median strip between Roosevelt Boulevard and the auxiliary road more uniform because it is one of the two main entranceways to Ocean City.
To that end, the city installed a large, brightly colored welcome sign last year at the eastern end of the media that travelers see as they enter the island from the bridge. It is a smaller version of the one with flip-flops wearing sunglasses on the Route 52 causeway — the primary entrance to the island.
Plans call for color-changing LED lights between the trees and bushes on the median and for a split-rail fence along the north side of the roadway by the wetlands.
Winslow wants a more cohesive look on the median in general, which is now home to multiple signs for different organizations that come in different shapes and sizes.
“By March they’re going to have that (north) side done and then they’re going to move over to the other side with everything wrapped up by Memorial Day,” Winslow said.
– STORY and PHOTO by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
