All Seaside Park Boardwalk Entrances Will Be Handicap-Accessible After Rebuild

The Seaside Park boardwalk, March 2024. (Photo: Shorebeat)

Seaside Park officials’ plans to rebuild a major portion of the borough’s boardwalk includes making the entrances accessible to those with disabilities.

The borough last week voted in favor of pursuing grant funding to facilitate the construction of 16 individual curb cuts that will allow wheelchairs and other accessibility aids to safely transition from Ocean Avenue and parking areas to the boardwalk itself. As it currently stands, some boardwalk entrances consist only of a piece of timber placed over the pavement, followed by a steep incline to get to the boardwalk itself. These will all be replaced as part of an ambitious project to replace most of the existing boardwalk, which is expected to begin after this summer with the first phase of work being completed between 5th Street and K Street.

“When we do the boardwalk project, a number of the current ramps have to be redesigned to be handicap-accessible,” said Borough Administrator Karen Kroon. “Some of them, like Island Avenue, almost go straight up.”

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Seaside Park is funding the boardwalk replacement project through the state’s infrastructure bank, known as the I-Bank, which requires new construction to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The construction covers the entrances to the boardwalk itself – not the entrances to the beach, which come under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and are subject to myriad environmental regulations.

“What we are asking for is $60,000 in grant money, which would probably cover three of the ramps,” said Kroon. “Two years ago we got $35,000 to do the handicap grant at the community center, which came from the same grant.”

Eventually, all of the ramps in town will be converted to accessible standards.

“We’re going to have to figure out where the curb cuts are because there will be more switchbacks in order to make the incline at the right grade to make them handicap accessible,” Kroon said.

The Seaside Park boardwalk, Nov. 2020. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

The Seaside Park boardwalk, a mix of timber and Trex, Sept. 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)

The borough received notice last year that it was approved for funding from the I-Bank to replace its boardwalk to the tune of more than $12 million. The funding is flexible in that it would be allowed to be used all at once or over the course of as many as five years. Officials believe that the flexibility will allow the borough to complete the boardwalk replacement in phases rather than all at once, avoiding closing portions of the boardwalk in the summer or even during the height of fishing season.

In total, the I-Bank would finance up to $12,218,273, which is expected to be enough to cover the entirety of the project. In addition to redecking, the project will include the replacement of underlying infrastructure, including the ramps.

The section of boardwalk due for replacement is made of timber rather than the gray Trex-style decking material that makes up the rest of the boardwalk. It starts approximately at the lifeguard headquarters in the northern portion of the borough and runs south for 17 blocks.