The small community of Ocean Gate in Ocean County has big dreams for their Sandy-ravaged boardwalk. They expect it to rise out of the rubble in time for Memorial Day.

Flickr User Sea of Legs
Flickr User Sea of Legs
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Way before Sandy was even a twinkle, engineers were revamping parts of the one mile boardwalk, a little at a time. They had about 2,500 feet of the structure replaced with strong wood and newer building codes. When Sandy came through, it destroyed about 85-90 percent of the structure. The good news was most of the new sections suffered no damage whatsoever. There was one portion that was pushed up by water but it remained intact.

Mayor Paul Kennedy is excited about the prospect of getting the new boardwalk ready for next Summer.

He says, "The borough really took a beating. We were hit hard with damage to homes and businesses, there was flooding and other issues. Now we have something to look forward to. Because the storm didn't affect the newly renovated boardwalk sections, we will use the same type of building practices on the full structure."

Bids need to be in to the Ocean Gate Municipal Building by 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 17th.

Kennedy adds, "After review by the borough engineer and borough attorney, an award of a contract shall be done by the end of the month and construction should begin in late February."

The specs are available at the Borough Engineers office which is at 9 Allen Street in Toms River at Remington Vernick Engineers. They include demolition and removal of the old and damaged boardwalk plus the replacement of pilings and headers.

The plan is to keep the cost at under a million and a half dollars.

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