WEST CAPE MAY — Plans for a pedestrian/bicycle bridge are moving forward with a construction start date estimated sometime after Sept. 30, 2027, under a timeline set to protect bird habitat.
Municipal engineer Anthony Chadwell provided a project update during the Oct. 14 meeting of the Board of Commissioners for the bridge connecting West Cape May’s Grant Street to Cape May’s First Avenue.
After reviewing final plans Sept. 24 for New Jersey Department of Transportation bid authorization, borough and city officials agreed to request additional grant funding from the Cape May County Open Space Board.
Rising costs for fuel, steel and construction materials since the project’s inception prompted the request. The goal is to make sure that expenses that qualify for grants are completely covered, Chadwell said.
West Cape May secured an $85,000 state Department of Community Affairs local recreation improvement grant in March 2025 that funded preliminary design work, and later received a $700,000 grant from the DOT in October 2025 for construction.
Projected construction costs have risen from an estimated $700,000 to about $1 million, including soft costs and permits. Chadwell said they expect all of it to be grant funded, with the exception of the permit fees, which are not eligible for grants. He said those expenses will amount to “a few thousand dollars” and will be split 50-50 between the two municipalities.
“We’re asking Cape May County to fund the balance of the project,” Chadwell said. “It’ll be completely grant funded, so that’s a good thing.”
The project schedule and specifications are governed by Department of Environmental Protection rules intended to protect habitat for nesting songbirds.
Because DEP permit terms prohibit clearing trees and heavy brush between April 1 and Sept. 30 to protect nesting migratory songbirds, a decision was made to delay work until after Sept. 30. Chadwell said the design was adjusted to protect trees, noting that the bridge was specifically “configured to eliminate any need for removing any woody vegetation.”
Surveyors identified at least two black cherries and other important species. They will be preserved during construction.
Following discussions at their Sept. 24 meeting, project planners adjusted the timeline. Rather than allowing early site preparation (before April 1) that would result in “two paths to nowhere,” they opted to delay all clearing and abutment work until after Sept. 30.
The Star and Wave previously reported that the actual construction was projected to take up to two months (mostly clearing and driving piles for the abutments). The bridge is expected to arrive in pieces from the manufacturer in Minnesota on a flatbed truck and be lifted into place.
Environmental work will focus on clearing out invasive phragmites — which are “98% covered on the West Cape May side” — and replacing them with native plants. Engineer Chadwell said the borough is coordinating with state regulators to ensure the new native vegetation offsets the small permanent disturbance to the wetlands.
West Cape May Mayor George Dick said not only are phragmites hard to get rid of, but that meeting DEP standards can be difficult, too.
“We did a landscape plan that has native plants and we actually did three of them because we kept putting plants on there that were exotic,” Dick said. “They wouldn’t let us put them in even though they’re native to the area.”
During the commissioners meeting, the engineer and mayor detailed the physical structure, dimensions, lighting, fencing and rules for the bridge.
On the West Cape May side of the 50-foot-long, 10-foot-wide bridge, there will be no sidewalks. Asphalt will lead up to the structure and transition directly into the street. There will be sidewalk on the Cape May side with pedestrians going onto the sidewalk and bicyclists going into the street.
Chadwell detailed the design for the multi-use crossing, which will carry a 5 mph speed limit. Four-foot fencing with locked access gates will line the path to protect the underlying wetlands, while bollards equipped with low-intensity solar lights will block golf carts, ATVs and other small vehicles at each end. Postings will prohibit fishing, crabbing and dumping from the bridge.
Dick described the bridge as an important segment of a larger network of safer off-road paths linking West Cape May to Cape May and eventually toward Cape May Point.
“The intention is that people don’t even get in their cars,” Dick said. “We’re giving them a safe path to the beach from the entire west side of West Cape May.”
– By JAMES FITZPATRICK/For the Cape May Star and Wave
