Dorset Bridge: FEBRUARY 1st

[VentnorMod]

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/n...07444e438.html

Ventnor bridge closing delayed until after January
Thursday, January 14, 2010

VENTNOR - Users of the Dorset Avenue Bridge have another reprieve. The bridge won't close to normal traffic for two more weeks - or maybe more.

An Atlantic County spokeswoman announced Wednesday that the bridge will stay open through the end of January, which would make the next likely closing date Feb. 1.

The bridge had been scheduled to shut down Monday to most traffic, except for emergency vehicles, walkers and bicyclists. And that Monday closing was pushed back by two weeks from the original date, Jan. 4.

But Ventnor Mayor Theresa Kelly suggested that the bridge may stay open even longer. She said the message she got was that the bridge connecting Ventnor's two islands won't close "until the first week of February, but there's no date available at this time."

The mayor said Wednesday that the news of two more weeks - at least - of a normally functioning bridge is "wonderful. The longer it stays open, the better I like it."

Atlantic County, which owns the bridge, awarded a $3.2 million contract for structural, mechanical and electrical repairs to A.P. Construction, based in Blackwood. The company started work Jan. 4 and is scheduled to finish that job by mid-April, in time for the summer traffic rush to local beaches. But the bridge will have to close again for a month next year for repainting as part of the same contract - without being open to even emergency or foot traffic.