Crossing Bridges on the Way to Cape May

If you think Cape May traffic is terrible today, try to imagine what it was like in the 1960s when only two roads led into the city, both with frequently opened drawbridges allowing boat travel between Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Both roads – one down the seaside and another down the bayside – originated as trails created in the 1600s by Cape May’s original settlers, the Kechemeche, a branch of the Lenni Lenape tribe of indigenous people who formed settlements in Cape May County.  By the late 18^th century, Cape May’s white settlers had transformed these trails into dirt roads used to travel from the northern to the most southern part of the county. These same roads, fortunately much improved over the past 350 years, are today, with only a few minor changes, the same roads on which we regularly travel.

In the very olden days, these two roads provided primary access into the county’s lower precinct (Lower Township). The seaside road connected through Cape Island, West Cape May, and Schellenger’s Landing, the present-day location of the Lobster House restaurant and fishing boat docks. The landing, on the west side of Cold Spring Inlet, was reached by ferry over Cape Island Creek in the 1800s. It was eventually replaced by a stone bridge in the 1830s, and in the early 1900s by a series of wooden bridges. The last of these was built when Cape May Harbor was created as part of an ambitious New East Cape May Real Estate Company plan to re-invigorate Cape May as a competitive world-class resort.

The Schellenger Landing bridge, today more often referred to as the Lafayette Street bridge, is the oldest connector bridge between the Cape May County mainland and the City of Cape May. In 1927, the stationary wooden bridge was replaced by one that could be opened for boats to travel up the Cape Island Creek and closed for Lafayette Street traffic to cross into the city. Over the years, as car traffic increased, opening and closing the bridge became a big inconvenience for drivers. The bridge was finally replaced in 1973 with a higher one. Now, neither cars nor boats needed to be stopped.

The Cape May Harbor project was completed in 1906 at a cost of $1,311,000. It required a massive sand dredging effort that not only widened and deepened Cold Spring Inlet, but then transported the removed sand further west along the beachfront to fill in blocks of marshes, creating the building lots needed for the new development. Most of the financing came privately through New Cape May Development Company investors, with small amounts financed through county and state funds. Development plans included the now-demolished Cape May Hotel (later renamed the Admiral, and then the Christian Admiral Hotel) as well as surrounding lots approximately between Madison and Pittsburgh Avenue and then further east across the beachfront. The development failed after several bankruptcies before it really got off the ground. Perhaps this New Cape May vision was before its time. Very few lots were sold, fewer houses were built, and most of the planned streets remained only on maps as paper streets, surveyed and drawn on paper but not actually constructed. Houses were built mainly south of Cape May Avenue and along the beachfront.  Further construction did not take place until the early 1960s when a portion of the land was developed as Village Greene.

Although the New Cape May project was not successful, Cape May Harbor remains today as its most significant contribution. Because bigger vessels were able to come more easily into the harbor than the inlet, both boating and commercial fishing industries expanded and thrived. In 1919, the harbor was reconstructed to increase its depth. In 1927, the Star and Wave reported the enlargement of the harbor and Cold Spring Inlet entrance which contributed to even greater opportunities for private fishing expeditions and the further growth of the commercial fishing industry. Throughout the first half of the 20^th century, Cape May’s primary industry was not tourism, but commercial and pleasure boat fishing, growing industries that brought increased car and train travel to Schellenger’s Landing.

As early as the 1930s, even before the Second World War, politicians had been lobbying for state funds to build a canal across the Cape May peninsula. At the time, politicians believed that traveling between the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay would be safer by allowing boats and ships to bypass the rough ocean riptides created by the opposing tides from the merger of bay and ocean waters. But nothing much happened with the canal until World War II, when frequently sighted German submarines successfully torpedoed and sunk ships on their way to and from Philadelphia. This war situation created a not-to-be ignored national security risk. Cape May’s I. Grant Scott, then New Jersey State Senate president, advocated locally and in the Senate for the building of the canal. In a 1941 speech, he was quoted as saying that “this county is one of the few resort sections which constitutes the definite end of the trail and cannot be traversed to reach some other sections. Every improvement that makes travel easier and more convenient is bound to reflect increased revenue to our businesses.” Despite advocacy efforts, President Franklin Roosevelt was not inclined to approve the project because it did not have military significance.

As reported by the Cape May Gazette, President Roosevelt ultimately reversed his position when several ships were sunk off Cape May. Support from the military also hastened the canal’s approval and construction. Both the Navy and Coast Guard saw the canal as adding protection to its Cape May military bases. According to the Gazette story: “In May of 1941, the lives of three men were lost when their 26-foot cabin cruiser was caught in a rip tide during stormy weather. The tragedy gave Senator Scott cause to urge authorities to hurry up and build the canal.”  However, it was not until war was declared in December 1941 that canal construction actually began.

The Cape May Canal crosses from Cape May Harbor at the Cold Spring Inlet, on the Atlantic Ocean side, across the county until it exits on the Delaware Bay side at the location where the Cape May-Lewes Ferry boats now dock. Once approved, the 110-foot wide, three-and-a-half-mile long canal was built quickly, from August 1942, in about seven months. More than 100 properties were relocated or demolished, some of which were located near the New England Creek which essentially became subsumed into the Canal. Five county roads running north-south were bisected, although not all were reconnected with bridges. Two primary roads into the City of Cape May, in addition to the train tracks, were severed and required bridges to reconnect for travel. The seaside road was cut through just north of Schellenger’s at Cold Spring Inlet and the Harbor, the bayside road (entering the lower part of the county in West Cape May) along Seashore Road, and the train tracks now required bridges.

At the time the canal was being built, there was some discussion about what entity was responsible for the bridges. As a result, temporary bridges were built in 1943 both at West Cape May and Schellenger’s Landing.  Train tracks were connected by a more permanent horizontal swing bridge that remains today. Roads also were connected with low-to-the-water swing bridges so only the very shortest boats could go through without the bridges being opened. These moveable wooden bridges were positioned in alignment with the road but when a boat was too high to go under, the bridge would be opened into a “T” horizontal position, creating a boat lane. The railroad bridge was also a horizontal, moveable design but was kept open (in the “T position”) unless a train needed to cross into the city. Then the bridge would be closed to allow the train to go over the canal.

This bridge configuration remained until the 1960s when both canal and road traffic created huge traffic back-ups, especially in the prime summer months, at both Schellenger’s Landing and on the seashore road into West Cape May. The need for bridge replacement was clear, although challenges occurred regarding who bore responsibility for decision-making and financing replacement. Original bridges were financed as temporary by the state in 1943, but the canal itself was a federal waterway and both canal-bisected roads were owned by the county. Eventually, a 1968 State bond issue provided the funding for bridge replacement. The canal swing bridge at Schellenger’s Landing was replaced easily. A higher bridge was constructed in 1969 allowing boats as high as 55’ to go under. The wooden bridge over the Cape Island Creek, connecting Schellenger’s with Lafayette Street, was eventually replaced in 1973, and both bridges remain today.

The bridge over the canal on the Seashore Road leading into West Cape May at New England Road was not so easy. Traffic consultants were hired to make recommendations not only for bridge design but also for its location. Some local businesspeople lobbied to have the bridge moved further west to connect over Bayshore Road as a way of promoting development of North Cape May and the Villas.

To help with decisions about the location, a year-long traffic study, reported in the Star andWave in June 1967, was commissioned to provide information about use of the current bridge during 1966. The study showed that the bridge was opened for a total of 428 hours in 5,582 openings across the year. As might be expected, almost 40% of the total-year bridge openings were in July and August. The resulting delays for summer travelers were not only excessive but resulted in backups sometimes all the way past Route 109 as cars waited to travel south into West Cape May – definitely not a good situation for tourism (then or now). But ultimately, the new bridge was built and crossed the canal at a slightly relocated Seashore Road, redesigned to straighten out roadway curves on both sides of the canal.

The next time you are stuck on roads into and out of Cape May, just imagine what traffic would be like if you were also waiting for a bridge to open and close. Most people probably don’t even think about the canal and its bridges. Be thankful for that Cape May Canal that provides benefits for tourists and residents alike—and for those bridges, even when they are backed up. And maybe you can hear your grandparents talking about “back in the day when everyone had to wait their turn for an opening” on the way to Cape May.