Boardwalk to undergo major renovations to substructure

(July 23, 2010) Ocean City’s star is in need of a major facelift.

The iconic Boardwalk, which stretches for two and a half miles along the beach from the inlet to 27th Street, dates back to 1962 when a previous wooden walkway was rebuilt following the great March storm. Since then, the boards have been constantly replaced as they weathered and cracked, but the substructure remains largely untouched.

After nearly 50 years, the Boardwalk substructure — the pilings that hold it in the ground and the girders that hold up the boards people walk along – has reached old age and is in need of major repairs.

“It’s showing its age,” City Engineer Terry McGean said. “We can only replace the decking so many times before the stringers get to be like Swiss cheese from all the nail holes. It’s tough to get nails to hold any more.”

McGean and Public Works Director Hal Adkins are working on a plan to replace the entire Boardwalk, right down to the substructure, from Fourth to 27th streets. The area to the south was rebuilt in 2001 and remains solid, he said.

McGean said many of the pilings are the originals from the 1960s, but much of the girders lying crosswise underneath the visible boards date back to 1985. That was when Hurricane Gloria barreled up the coast and even though it largely skirted Ocean City, it caused substantial damage to much of the Boardwalk.

Until the sea wall running along the Boardwalk was built in 1990, McGean said nor’easters and other storms would cause severe damage to the wooden structure. With nothing to stop the ocean waves from reaching the Boardwalk, the water would rip out pieces and send them floating away.

“In the past, if we had a storm, water would get up there and it would literally lift up the stringers, rip up the decking and we’d have huge sections of Boardwalk floating all over town,” he said.

Since the seawall was built, the Boardwalk has faced a routine problem: regular wear and tear. Instead of replacing sections of boards ripped away by storms, the city has to replace boards that are damaged from the constant tram and foot traffic.

“It’s literally wearing out from the amount of use it takes from trains, people, weather, snowstorms, freezing and thawing in the winter,” McGean said.

Normally, in the winter, the Public Works Department takes the most damaged section of the Boardwalk and makes repairs where needed. This past winter, the city reconstructed a two-block section near 13th Street where so many boards were damaged it wasn’t worth picking and choosing.

These cosmetic repairs ensure that visitors can continue to stroll along the boards without getting splinters or kicking loose nails, but McGean said it does not address the issue of the aging and rotting pilings underneath. That’s why he and Adkins are working on a plan to replace the bulk of the Boardwalk’s structure once the summer is over.

“There are going to be major expenditures in the near future to renovate the Boardwalk,” City Manager Dennis Dare said.

The wood used is treated southern yellow pine, but the city is testing five or six other types of wood, treatments and substances such as plastic lumber along a section near 14th Street to see how they hold up during the summer. McGean said the plastic option is likely out of the running because those boards have already broken under the weight of everyday use.

“Some places use tropical hardwood, but we haven’t pursued that. It’s very expensive, and there are PR issues as well. But we’re doing our due diligence and checking out other types of wood and materials,” he said.

Once all the data on the various types of lumber is gathered at the end of the summer, McGean and Adkins hope to present a comprehensive renovation plan to the City Council for approval.