Boardwalk Rebuild Inches Toward Completion

* This story was updated at 1:40 p.m. 10.9.13.

The reconstruction of the Long Beach boardwalk continued Wednesday morning, with workers in the midst of completing the final sections, from Long Beach Boulevard to Neptune Boulevard, the eastern end of the 2.2-mile structure. 

The rebuilding work on Wednesday was mainly along the stretch between Lincoln and Long Beach boulevards, as the sections from Neptune to about Lincoln are complete, with the exception of guardrails must still be installed along some areas of the Brazilian hardwood walkway and the ramps.

On a chain-linked fence at the construction site at Long Beach Boulevard, the City of Long Beach posted a laminated sign that states the first sections of the boardwalk opened July 27, as per its contract with Grace Industries and Liro Engineers, the firms hired to rebuild and manage the project, respectively, and that “the rest of the Boardwalk will be completed 80 days after that.” That puts the deadline for a complete rebuilding at Oct. 15.

Gordon Tepper, a city spokesman, told Patch Wednesday that the boardwalk will open to the public after the city has had an opportunity to inspect the completed areas and deem them useable, the procedure it used with prior completed sections. 

“We also need to generate an initial punch list before public use,” Tepper said. “The milestone in the contract is what it states, but that does not mean the boardwalk opens on that very same day. It did not happen that way with the 100 day milestone, and it will not happen that way with this 80 day milestone.”

City Manager Jack Schnirman said the city anticipates that the full boardwalk will open to the public earlier than originally expected, which was projected to be in November.  

“Those of us who run, walk, and bike the boardwalk can clearly see the speed with which the construction is progressing,” he said. “Grace appears to be on track to hit this upcoming critical contractual milestone. As we’ve said, we’ve hoped all along to be able to open the entire length of the boardwalk for all to enjoy by early November. I am happy to say that if the current pace continues and the inspection process goes well, perhaps we will be able to open slightly earlier than previously anticipated.”

The boardwalk sections between New York Boulevard, the western end of the structure, to Long Beach Boulevard are complete and open to the public, although some street access ramps need to be built. Some of the more than 700 memorial benches that lined the previous boardwalk, before it was heavily damaged during Hurricane Sandy last year, have started to reappear on the new structure, on the concrete edges between Riverside and Long Beach boulevards.

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