Six Years of Construction Done: Causeway Opens Next Week

An electronic sign on the Route 52 causeway is announcing what Ocean City residents and visitors have been anticipating for six years: the completion of a massive road project that replaced and elevated the main causeway leading to the island.

The sign says, "New traffic pattern 7 a.m. May 14," and a DOT spokesperson confirmed that on Monday a series of traffic shifts will let crews get ready to open four lanes of traffic (tentatively) by Tuesday, May 15.

That would mark the long-awaited end to traffic delays during a $400 million construction project that replaced two drawbridges with towering fixed spans and replaced a low-lying roadway with an elevated causeway.

Work on a visitors center, fishing piers and other amenities on the causeway will continue through the summer, but the lanes of traffic will be complete.

The state Department of Transportation is delivering an update on the project to the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, May 10. Check back with Ocean City Patch for coverage of the event.

An amended $251 million contract with Route 52 Constructors, a joint venture of G.A. & F.C. Wagman, Inc., of York, PA, and R.E. Pierson Construction Co., Inc., of Pilesgrove, calls for the four lanes of traffic to be open by Memorial Day Weekend.

The contract calls for an incentive payment of $25,000 for each day work is completed prior to specified deadlines. Total incentives are capped at $1 million.

The state spokesperson said the DOT, for construction purposes, views the start of the summer season as May 15 and tries to complete many projects by that date.

It remains unclear when the pedestrian and bicycle lane on the new causeway will open.