The Engineer's explanation sounds a little fishy to me. A boardwalk is pretty much a large deck, yet they couldn't get the surface dimensions correct? All new commercial construction requires wheelchair accessibility yet a large engineering company like Birdsall didn't realize the design was inadequate. Everybody in the food chain, with the exception of the taxpayer, loves engineering change orders since they involve more engineer costs as well as more work for the contractor.

A less eco friendly boardwalk that will deteriorate rapidly in a seaside application, contaminate soil & ocean, plus costs more....
You can thank the Sierra Club's threats of court litigation for doing such a good job of mucking it up! I feel it was dumb for the Sierra Club to ignore the fact that the ironwood that was originally scheduled to be used was certified as sustainably harvested in an ethical way. Their misguided crusade got the Sierra people the attention they crave, but it had a negative effect on me, by making them appear ill educated to me.
It is sad Belmar was forced to this choice. I hope they are able in the future to schedule replacement with the originally intended ironwood. Once the boardwalk is back in operation there will be plenty of time to fight The Sierra Club without destroying the momentum of our local economy's recovery from Sandy.
Belmar has my respect for keeping their priorities straight under the attack. I feel they can win in court the freedom to upgrade sections with the eco friendly material.
In the interim; I am eagerly awaiting the reopening of the boardwalk for my sunrise run. I have missed the peace & tranquility I shared with other boardwalk regulars as part of my training routine. This year; I train for the 60 mile Komen 3 Day, to celebrate my 10th year of survival. Hope to see everyone out there this Summer!

I have been following this issue keenly, Tex. The redesign was forced upon Belmar by The Sierra Club threatening to stall the town's recovery by tying it up in court long enough to make the boardwalk opening by Memorial Day an impossibility. The original design called for a less expensive material of ethically harvested ironwood that was actually superior to the more expensive plastic composite. The town has honestly done the best it could under such circumstances. It was not their fault.

Birdsall engineering has been involved with and directly connected and CONVICTED with so much fraud and pay to play... Why do we keep using them to design stuctures here in the USA that are deficient and sub standard...even to there standards. No wonder why India and China is beeting us. Birdsall is screwing America and taking everything it learns and giving the information to other countries whom undoubtedly will use it agains us...

In this case however; smallbizowner you can look at their original bid that had been selected from among a pool of bids as lowest for the work selected. The real game changer was the Sierra Club grandstanding. They acted like their hope was to prevent the boardwalk being rebuilt at all. There really was no time to repeat the bids procedure for the changed structure made of a totally different material without construction delays that would have kept it from that critical timely completion. That would have been economic suicide for all shore small business owners. Would you have preferred the permanent nationwide humiliation of not being finished for Memorial Day, with the Governor as an invited guest?
How well small businesses & lower income residents recover hinged upon this, so cry me a river.....I respect people who can work with such an unexpected change & still get the job done ahead of schedule.
I dislike organizations who go for the jugular during disasters to push an agenda.

A helpful hint; try using spell check whilst calling yourself educated. It will garner more respect.

Having taken engineering classes, & other design classes, I am aware that a change in materials can alter an entire design. With different materials the weight tolerance, flexibility, or physical dimensions can require alterations in the amount of supplies for an equivalent size structure. It can even change the support structure dimension requirements. Think about it. That's all the time I have today.

20% increase. Think about that.

What was wrong with the old wheelchair access design? It was just a long straight ramp from the boardwalk down to the beach. Both wheelchair and able bodied people used the same ramp. Now they will have a costly switchback design for wheelchairs and a stairway for everyone else? This is what happens when somebody else picks up the cost, the Chevy design suddenly gets replaced with the Cadillac. It reminds me of college costs. Soon as the Federal Government got involved with higher education, the costs went up 1000% in 25 years.

Anyone who has followed this & compared the materials cost knew this scale of increase was coming.
A design change, with a significantly higher costing material that requires more structural supports to stop it from sagging.... All of this was discussed when the Sierra Club stuck it's oar in Belmar's business, charlie.
So, let's all thank The Sierra activists here & in California for that increase. Plus; the use of a less suitable material choice that breaks down rapidly & can affect soil/water quality.
Personally; in my opinion the group is mono focused, they cannot see that water & soil are just as important. It caused them to block the use of ethically harvested, sustainable wood, cost more money, & is eco unfriendly. Batting a zero in my book.

Switchbacks are simply safer access & space efficient.
I spent a year in a wheelchair; being treated with multiple surgeries & batches of chemotherapy. Also; I have seen the able bodied compete for the straight ramps, sometimes they nearly knock the disabled over (like my friend recovering from knee surgery last Summer). They can become hangouts for smokers too.
A switchback also provides a pause to catch the breath for the disabled. That can be critically important for a person like me who was struggling to get back on my feet from the second lung surgery in 8 months!
Ironically; I might need them as I am recovering from massive pneumonia. Just home Saturday, after 6 days sucking oxygen in the hospital. It is delaying my training for the Susan Koman 3 Day in Philly this October, but I have overcome worse. Pulmonary cardiac rehabilitation again(sigh). Sometimes, life's a "Beach". However, it is much better to be alive with the challenge.

I agree that the KISS rule(keep it simple silly) works best, Tex, but safer will be good for all the people I saw this Summer that needed access during recuperation or due to frailty. Seeing them jostled makes me want to protect them so they can enjoy being with us. I have to rest now, thanks for the conversation.