By Lauren Wanko
Correspondent
Shore locals can’t wait to see boardwalk planks in Long Branch.
“As far as I’m concerned the shore would not be the shore without a boardwalk,” said Long Branch resident Barbara Lewis-White.
Long Branch officials are just as excited.
“We’ve been waiting for this news since the day after the storm,” said Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider.
Sandy destroyed a mile of boardwalk in this Monmouth County town and damaged another mile.
“The hit was enormous,” said Schneider.
Work on the new boardwalk is slated to start this spring — more than two years after the storm.
“There are a lot of different issues. First of all there was money. Our project is a $25 million project,” Schneider said. “The money represents the complexity of the work that had to be done. It’s a very sophisticated engineering job.”
Sergeant Charles Shirley says FEMA has been responsive.
“But at the same time FEMA and New Jersey have both been changing standards and laws so as this process went on we had to adapt and that’s not so easy in government,” said Shirley.
The one mile stretch of boardwalk being rebuilt will be 10 feet wider in some areas and include things like restrooms, concession stands and handicap accessible beach access.
“On top of that we applied for a mitigation, which almost $8 million of this project is to put a sea wall up which will actually protect that structure,” said Shirley.
The Pier Village section of the boardwalk didn’t suffer any significant damage from the storm.
“Because it was built to a different standard than the old boardwalk so we had to elevate and prepare for the next storm. Personally I think the next storm is inevitable. It’s not if, it’s when and we want to make sure everything survives,” Schneider said.
Many of the beach entrances have been replaced with temporary stairs or sand ramps.
“We’re a big beach community. We go from probably 35,000 to 40,000 people during the winter time and in the summer over 100,000 people down here,” said Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Stanley Dziuba.
The city installed fencing along the beach where there’s a steep drop which was a major factor that took time in the redesign says Shirley.
“I don’t know any other towns in Monmouth County that have the elevations like we have and the changes,” said Shirley.
Officials created a makeshift boardwalk on Ocean Avenue.
“It’s like the lifeblood of the beach. Everyone comes down, everyone wants to walk along the boardwalk, they want to jog,” said Dziuba.
The bids for the boardwalk reconstruction project were advertised on March 10 and are due back to the city by mid-April. Officials hope work will begin by Memorial Day. The goal is to have a substantial amount of the boardwalk completed by June 2016.