Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-05-31

The City Commissioners of Wild
wood and the officials of the Borough
of Wildwood Crest were in conference
last Friday afternoon, in the latter
place, with a committee Of the whole
of the Cape May County Board of
Chosen Freeholders, with the object in
view of arriving at a satisfactory
conclusion, to all parties concerned, as
to what course shall be pursued in con-
structing the new highway from Crest
Extension across Turtle Gut inlet to
Two Mile Beach. County Engineer
Rice was also there to present the out.
line of a plan, radically different from
the one proposed by Engineer Thomp-
son, of the State Highway Commits
sion. AS originally projected, this
new road was to have been a continual
ton of Pacific avenue, in a straight
line across the inlet, by means of bulk
heads and a solid fill, to terra-irma on
the northern end of Two Mile Beach;
but the destructive Worcester Of 1918
put a crimp in all calculations. Now
the State engineer proposes to start the
new road from the terminus of Phila-
delphia e He is obdurate and
refuses absolutely to recede from this
stand. He is likewise committed to a
bridge plan of getting over the inlet,
which is so Objectionable to the free
holders and to the citizens of the Crest.
John Young, chairman of the free
holders committee of finance, says it
costs the county annually $780, 600 to
maintain and keep in repair the county
bridges we already have; hence he is
unalterably opposed to the bridge
scheme favored by the State commits
sioners. The first cost of a solid road
bed, will be, as a matter of course,
somewhat greater than the cost of a
bridge, but IN the long run 1t will be
cheaper, for the cost of repairs and up
keep will be very materially less. A
road, carried in a straigh bit line from the
end of Pacific avenue, and a solid fill
made across the inlet, with bulkheads
on either side, is what Cape May coun-
ty officials are holding out for. The
conference ended on Friday last, after
the folio owing tentative agreement was
arrived at by all the parties TO the con-
ference: That at the next regular
meeting of the board of chosen free
holders on Tuesday, June 4th, Director
Rutherford shall appoint a committee
of three to go to Trenton on the 9th Of
June, at which date the State High
way Commission will be in session
there. This action is being taken al
the instance of the State body, the lat,
ter suggesting, by correspondence, thai
this will be the best plan to pursue
At the time mentioned the State board
on highways will listen to all argu'
ments that may be produced and ther
and there finally conclude what meth
cd of construction shall be chosen
Owing to the very peculiar conditions
existing at the inlet, it is highly prob
able that the State will bear so PEI
cent. of the cost of construction of the
Two Mile Beach road. Mr.. Young il
a philosopher. He says ''if w cam
get what WI want, the next best thinG
is to take what we can get" But WI
all know that the committee will pur
up the hardest kind of a fight for wha'
Cape May county prefers, before &C
quiescing and accepting only "wha
we can get" Solid roadbeds anC
straight roads are always preferable
when they may be had. If insur