Murphy wants $100M in pandemic aid spent on Jersey Shore boardwalks. Who gets first dibs?

ASBURY PARK - Gov. Phil Murphy stepped out onto a sunny Asbury Park boardwalk on Thursday morning, kicking off the Memorial Day holiday weekend and touting a $100 million fund to revitalize and refurbish the state's boardwalks.

"First of all, boardwalks are the lifeblood, particularly in warm weather, of a town like Asbury Park," Murphy said during a stop at The Break Restaurant.

The proposed Boardwalk Fund, earmarked in Murphy's proposed budget, will use federal pandemic aid to revitalize New Jersey's ailing boardwalks. The money will be prioritized to Shore towns facing financial distress and to projects that rehabilitate or improve existing boardwalks.

Other projects that add new boardwalks or other amenities such as recreation areas, services or retail facilities also will be eligible too.

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It is "crucial," said state Sen. Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth. "Obviously, our tourism economy depends on it."

"Our boardwalks really need a lot of repair up and down Monmouth and Ocean counties," Gopal said. "We see that there's a lot of wear and tear just by the large number of people that are using the boardwalks."

Over the last several years, Asbury Park has replaced about 80% of its boardwalk, spending $1.2 million last year. The city will seek funds to fix the remainder. "We need maybe $700,000 to $800,000 to finish the rest of the boardwalk," Mayor John Moor said, putting in a pitch for the proposed fund to cover last year's expenditure too.

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"It's fantastic that they put $100 million into the pot for it because the Jersey Shore does create a lot of revenue for the state," Moor said. "It's money well spent. Without a boardwalk, Asbury Park would be … just like every other town."

Murphy said other boardwalks "in a lot of places" are in similar condition to Asbury Park's. "Big stretches are in good shape but there are places where it's not," he said.

The governor, along with Gopal and Moor, took a walk along the boardwalk, chatting it up with several business owners and posing for photos.

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"The more vibrant the boardwalk is, clearly the better your business is, right?" Murphy asked Kay Harris, owner of Asbury Galleria, a small shop in a refurbished shipping container on the boardwalk near Second Avenue. "Absolutely," Harris replied.

How important is the health of the boardwalk to business?

"It's not too much to say, it's everything," said Tim McMahon, president of BarCo, which owns the Break restaurant and Low Dive. "Anything that upgrades the boardwalk and fuses investment into it is big for us."

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David P. Willis: dwillis@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Shore boardwalks targeted for $100M in repairs by Gov. Murphy