Cape May Canal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Cape May Canal is a waterway that stretches nearly three miles from Cape May Harbor to the Delaware Bay, at the southern tip of Cape May County, New Jersey. The canal was constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers during World War II to provide a protected route to avoid German U-boats operating off Cape May Point and to become part of the Intracoastal Waterway. The canal was dredged as a wartime emergency measure in 1942 and was the final link in a protected waterway intended to allow coastal shipping to travel along the coast with a greatly reduced risk of attack from German submarines.

The canal completed Cape Island, which includes Cape May, Cape May Point, West Cape May and the southernmost portions of Lower Township. The island is separated from the mainland and the rest of Cape May County by the Cape May Canal, Cape Island Creek and Cape May Harbor which cut it off from the rest of the peninsula.

There are three bridges across the canal: Route 109 (the link from the Garden State Parkway into Cape May), Route 162 (Seashore Road into West Cape May), and the railroad drawbridge of the Cape May Seashore Lines. The canal is used heavily by recreational boat traffic during the summer.