Replacement of the Middle Thorofare Bridge, the toll drawbridge that stands between Cape May and Wildwood Crest, is the centerpiece of a project estimated at $250 million by Cape May County Engineer Robert Church and scheduled to go out for design bids this summer.
Church, who recently updated the county Board of Commissioners on the long-considered project, said the Ocean Drive Upgrades and Bridge Improvements project would begin at the base of the Garden State Parkway and end at Madison Avenue in the Diamond Beach section of Lower Township, about 2.7 miles.
The project includes two low-level bridges – the Mill Creek Bridge and the Upper Thorofare Bridge — as well as the Middle Thorofare Bridge, which now opens for fishing boats and tall-masted sailboats. It will also include road reconstruction at the 5-foot culvert near Two Mile Landing. Essentially, the existing roadway will be elevated 4 feet, to bring it above base flood elevation, Church said.