Lavallette has started replacing the decking on its boardwalk, and the first phase begins this month at Dover Avenue. The borough says the plan is to redo about four to five blocks a year, working north, with larger sections added in later years as the budget allows. For anyone with an inscription carved into a board, the borough has also said what will happen to it.

Where the work starts

The first phase starts at Dover Avenue and runs north as far as the lumber on hand allows. The borough's current estimate is that the first stretch will reach somewhere around Elizabeth Avenue. The work starts in the off-season; the borough's off-season beach access period runs from October 1 to April 30.

The project replaces the deck boards people walk on. The borough has described it as a multiyear program rather than a single rebuild, so residents should expect a new section to appear each off-season, with the pace set by how much the borough can fund in a given year.

What happens to the inscribed boards

Some of Lavallette's boardwalk boards carry inscriptions, and the borough has addressed them directly. Crews will make every effort to lift inscribed boards without damaging them. The borough is clear that it cannot guarantee every board will survive removal, since older wood can split when it is pried up.

Every inscribed board that can be salvaged will be saved and held at the Lavallette Department of Public Works, where the family that put it there can pick it up. A carved board that comes up whole can go home with the family rather than be discarded with the old decking.

If you have a board on the boardwalk

  • Find out if your block is in the first phase. The first stretch runs north from Dover Avenue toward roughly Elizabeth Avenue. Boards farther north are not expected to be touched this winter.
  • Contact the borough to arrange pickup. Saved boards are held at Public Works. Borough Hall can tell you how to collect one.
  • Do not count on it. The borough's own wording is that no board is guaranteed to come up whole, so a photograph of the board now is worth taking.

Why it is phased

The borough has tied the pace to its budget: about four to five blocks a year to start, and larger sections in later years if the money allows. Doing it a few blocks at a time means only one stretch of the boardwalk is affected in any given winter, while the rest stays as it is.

Contact

Borough of Lavallette, 1306 Grand Central Avenue, Lavallette, NJ 08735. Phone: 732-793-7477. Updates on the project are posted on the borough's Boardwalk Reconstruction page.

Sources