Atlantic City starts first phase of $26 million repairs to world-famous boardwalk
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS) -- Atlantic City began the first phase this week of $26 million in repairs to its world-famous boardwalk.
The repairs include replacing the wooden boards and rehabilitating the columns and beams underneath them.
The first phase, which will cost $6 million, stretches from South Bellevue Avenue to Columbia Place, while the second phase, which will cost $20 million, will repair the boardwalk from New Jersey Avenue to Tennessee Avenue.
The $20 million comes from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy's $100 million Boardwalk Preservation Fund.
"We would not be able to afford these repairs on the boardwalk," Mayor Marty Small Sr. said. "Relationships matter because life is the relationship."
Yolanda Jones, who's visiting Atlantic City from Brooklyn, is impressed by the repairs.
"To see this, it's amazing to see how y'all keep up with the work out here," Jones said. "They don't do things like this in Coney Island, Brooklyn. With their boardwalk, it's a lot of fixing up they have to do."
City Engineer Uzo Ahiarakwe said the repairs are also important to keep the boardwalk resilient as climate change will bring stronger storms to the coast.
"We always get the storm," Ahiarakwe said. "If we don't build these things very well, it won't last."
Repairs are expected to be finished by 2026.
