First Causeway on the rise

Long awaited work on the First Causeway to Little Ram Island began Monday and drivers can expect unpaved roads and single lane access during construction to raise the causeway about 2.5 feet.
The plan is to raise Ram Island Drive as well as access to it from Ram Island Road and Gardiner’s Bay Drive to a uniform height of 6.5 feet above the mean high water mark. The project was delayed earlier this month due to unusually high tides flooding the roadway. The work is expected to cost $597,000 and will be funded in part by a federal grant. The project dates back to before 2005, when a federal highway grant of $300,000 was earmarked for the project but diverted to assist in reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina.