Repairs to Stone Harbor, NJ Bridge Will Delay Traffic for Weeks

There will be traffic delays for drivers entering and leaving the Borough of Stone Harbor as Cape May County will be making more repairs to the Great Channel Bridge for the second time this year.

A joint announcement by the Cape May County Engineer and Stone Harbor states that starting Monday, October 16th there will be a temporary traffic signal placed at both ends of the Great Channel Bridge.  Drivers traveling along County Route 619 (also known as Ocean Drive) will be delayed as there is going to be a one-way alternative traffic pattern for the next four weeks.

In an effort to avoid closing the bridge for construction as it was several months ago, the repairs to the steel underdeck of the Great Channel Bridge will be performed in a way that allows traffic to continue using the popular Ocean Drive Thorofare. This bridge is one of two that connects the southern end of Stone Harbor to State Highway Route 147 which is the northern entry for the municipality of North Wildwood.  The Grassy Sound Bridge is the designated Ocean Drive Toll Bridge that stands between North Wildwood and Stone Harbor.  The County will not be suspending Tolls during the four weeks there are repairs being done to the steel underdeck of the Great Channel Bridge.

Unlike the complicated repairs being done to the Stone Harbor 96th Street Bridge, the work being done to the Stone Harbor Great Channel Bridge on County Route 619 is part of a series of necessary work being done on all Cape May County Bridges. Back in 2020, the NBIS Report given to the County stated that the overall physical condition of the superstructure was rated as "poor". The Cape May County Department of Engineering and the Cape May County Bridge Commission Report from 2022 recommended that the bridge be replaced and the Projected Timeline for that work to be completed between 2029-2031.

While the Stone Harbor 96th Street Bridge is a protected historical structure by the New Jersey State Historic Register and the National Register of Historic Places per action by the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office in 1983, the Great Channel Bridge on Ocean Drive is not a historically protected structure and can be completely replaced.

NOTE: "THE COMPREHENSIVE BRIDGE REPLACEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT PLAN for CAPE MAY COUNTY AND BRIDGE COMMISSION BRIDGES" report is in PDF format on the Cape May County Government website for public perusal.