Photos: A Block of the Ocean City Boardwalk Is Gone

With favorable fall weather, work on a $1.1 million project to replace an entire block of the Ocean City Boardwalk is making good progress.

Anybody who has not visited the boardwalk in recent weeks might be surprised to discover that the entire block between Fifth and Sixth streets is missing — with crews removing the last supports of the substructure.

The work is the first phase of what will likely be a seven-year project to completely replace the Ocean City Boardwalk between Fifth and 12th streets. 

City Council voted in June to award a contract to Fred M. Schiavone Construction of Malaga for the phase between Fifth and Sixth streets. The contract calls for replacing the substructure and redecking the boardwalk with an existing stock of southern yellow pine. The contractor is the same one who completed work on the new Welcome Center on the Route 52 causeway.

The city plans to spend $1.4 million each year between 2014 and 2017 as part of its five-year capital plan. The current contract calls for an April completion date.

Bicycle and pedestrian traffic is being detoured off the Boardwalk at Sixth Street, through the parking lot between Sixth and Fifth streets, down an alley connecting Fifth Street and Brighton Place, then back to the Boardwalk at Brighton.