News Release
| Release Number: | 98-097 |
| Dated: | 11/24/1998 |
| Contact: | Matt Rabe, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, has awarded a contract to repair the north breakwater at the Astoria East Boat Basin. Work is scheduled to begin in early December.
The $3 million contract was awarded to Bergerson Construction, Inc., of Astoria, Ore.
Bergerson will repair of the eastern 400-foot section along the 2,000-foot-long breakwater's eastern-most end by installing steel sheetpiling along the length of the section, surrounding it, and filling the areas between the new and old outer walls with sand or gravel. The first step will be to remove some material on both sides of the breakwater to clear space for the new sheetpiling. After the construction, that material will be replaced.
Earlier this year, the Corps awarded a $148,800 contract to CH2M-Hill of Portland, Ore., to design the plans and specifications for the work. In September, a $800,000 contract for the fabrication of the steel sheetpiling was awarded to Skyline Steel Corporation of Gig Harbor, Wash.
Construction should be completed by April 1999.
Even though the structure has reached its designed structural life of 50 years, it continues to provide protection for the boat basin, said Corps' Project Manager George Miller.
"Although there is some corrosion along the sheetpile," Miller said, "the breakwater is still providing the protection it was designed to provide. We will continue to monitor the remainder of the structure.
The 50-year-old breakwater has felt the effects of time and weather. "It has developed a number of holes and is slowly losing its fill, but it is still stable," said Jeff Sedey, design team leader.
"We looked at the entire structure to determine which section should be repaired first," Sedey said. "Historically, [the east] end has been more severely degraded than other sections."
"As an agency, we will continue to monitor the breakwater and make repairs, as needed, to provide protection to the basin," Miller said.