Improvements are planned to be made on Ocean Drive between 62nd Street south to 80th Street by the County (Ocean Drive is a County Road). The Borough of Avalon will replace a majority of water and sewer underneath the roadway in advance of the County of Cape May doing drainage improvements before a complete resurfacing of the roadway. The Borough’s water and sewer work will be conducted by Lafayette Utility Construction Company, Inc. of Egg Harbor Township who is familiar with the infrastructure in our community.
At the conclusion of this project, individuals living along that portion of Ocean Drive will have new water and sewer service, improved drainage, and a new road surface on both sides of Ocean Drive.
The project is expected to begin with major construction work on or about after Columbus Day weekend, in mid-October. Before the construction work begins, various test pits will be installed. All work done by Lafayette, by contract, must be completed by May 25, 2022. The County will follow Avalon’s work and is expected to begin its drainage improvements in Spring, 2022, break for the summer, return in the fall of 2022, with an anticipated completion in May, 2023.
Construction is currently scheduled to be Monday-Friday, 7:00am-3:30pm most days. As of now, no work is contemplated on weekends. Both water and sewer replacement work is expected to begin at 74th Street, and move south to 80th Street. After that is completed, work will again commence at 74th Street, and move north to 62nd Street. Once the project begins with actual construction, the contractor is expected to provide the Borough with a one week “look ahead” on where work is anticipated the following week.
Regular trash and recycling collection is expected to be uninterrupted during this work, and residents will have access to their driveways during this work. The only exception will be when the contractor must work in front of a driveway which typically is for a very short time. There will be small dewatering pipes running down the curbline at the beginning of the project. The contractor will make sure temporary ramps are located at driveways for ease of access. The contractor (Lafayette) will also have door hangars placed on doors to notify residents when the project will start. Avalon will maintain an inspector on site at all times to handle any individual issues, and address concerns.
Interruptions of water service will occur when when a home is being hooked up to the new water line. Those outages are not expected to last more than three hours. Major excavation debris will be hauled off site and out of our community daily. There will be a temporary staging area at a portion of Bay Park Marina. Access to the boat ramp will be available at all times during this project.
