MAKING WAVES

BY RANDY WOODS

Pardon Our Dust: Maritime Upgrades Ring in Spring Around the Sound

As traffic returns in full force to the Puget Sound waterways this spring, several ports, marinas, and locks systems are moving forward to handle the increase and help improve life for those looking for fun and recreation on the water. Some of this work may continue into the busy summer season, so boaters should be aware of a few ongoing repairs around the Sound.

At Fort Casey State Park, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission said it will complete construction of the Keystone Boat Launch in late spring this year. Until that time, the Keystone boat ramp will experience intermittent partial and full closures.

Repairs at Keystone have been in the works since December 2018, when a storm system caused heavy beach erosion and brought strong winds that pushed a breakwater structure into the floating docks, damaging them and knocking over a concrete pylon. With the help of funds from the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the Parks Department was able to begin the $2.4 million project last December to add a new protective breakwater structure, replace the fallen pylon, and repair the docks.

To check the status of the Keystone Boat Launch, which serves not only boaters but divers, paddlers, and walk-on ferry traffic, visit the Washington State Parks Fort Casey web page for the latest information: parks.wa.gov/505/Fort-Casey

In Port Townsend, the first renovation phase of the 50-slip Point Hudson Marina was completed in late January after crews, aided by mild fall and winter weather, finished work on a new jetty weeks ahead of schedule. Work on the Point Hudson Marina involves the replacement of two jetties that recently failed after nearly 90 years of wind and wave action. The work closed the marina shortly after last September’s Wooden Boat Festival.

The new jetty consists of 178 steel piles buried 30 feet into the sea floor, rising up 16 feet above a low tide level—three feet higher than the replaced creosoted wood pilings. About 1,000 tons of bedding stone forms the base of the new jetty, while 4,000 tons of armor stone was placed inside the piles. In addition, 1,500 tons of stone was added as a new sea life habitat outside the marina mouth.

Tacoma-based Orion Marine Contractors, which performed work on Port Hudson’s north jetty, said the next phase of the $14 million project can now begin, replacing the longer second jetty to the south, as well as its pedestrian walkway, starting in September.

The completion of the latest phase means that some boaters and maritime businesses, such as Puget Sound Express, with its San Juan Islands tour boats, can return to Point Hudson after being temporarily halted. For more details, go to: portofpt.com

Then in Ballard, the Visitor’s Center of the Hiram Chittenden Locks is supposed to open later this spring as extensive renovations near completion (the first floor is open, but work continues on the second story). The locks themselves, however, will continue a two-year, intermittent closure cycle for an overhaul of the 80-foot-wide large lock. Having recently re-opened in late January, the 825-foot-long lock will be out of service two more times this year— once in mid-October through mid-November—and again for the bulk of December. Another series of closures is expected in 2024 until the locks are fully renovated by late December of that year.

Most of the original machinery used to operate the gravity-based lock system has been in place since 1917 and is in urgent need of improvements. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will perform concrete demolition and construction work, installation and commissioning of new miter gates, and the scraping out of marine growth that has built up over 106 years of operation.

During these scheduled closures, the smaller boat lock will remain in operation to handle vessel traffic. The lock system, owned by the Army Corps, is the busiest in the nation, handling nearly 50,000 vessels each year between Lake Union and Puget Sound. The dates of the closures remain fluid for 2023 and 2024, so, for regular updates on the Corps’ upcoming lock closures, be sure to follow Chittenden’s (well updated) Facebook page: facebook.com/ChittendenLocks

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