Parts of the breakwater in front of the Skagway harbor collapsed into the ocean back in November. A team has come to assess the damage.
Last summer, Skagway Borough Manager Brad Ryan saw something a little odd on the waterfront.
Ryan :”We started noticing that the walkway on top of the breakwater was moving more than we all are used to seeing it move.”
The municipality had the structure inspected, and determined repairs would be needed. But as summer turned to fall, rough seas started to take their toll.
Ryan:”And by about October the wave barrier was actually moving back and forth at the waterline when we had good south seas, and we were looking to get some divers out here to do some more inspection.”
But just before the divers arrived,
Ryan:”One of the sheets with a pile in it actually cracked and came off the wave barrier and sank in the entrance there to the harbor.”
The underwater team has inspected the structure using remotely operated vehicles, and found quite a bit of damage.
Ryan:”With the ROV down there we’ve seen a number of cracks in the pile, especially the wave barrier pile, especially the wave barrier piles that are out towards the end ot the wave barrier itself, towards the entrance as opposed to the landside, the first five had pretty good cracks in them up high, and they also had cracks, at least a couple of cracks down low at the mud line.”
Divers have cut off some material near where the breaks on the pilings. These samples have been sent to a lab to learn whether there are any issues with the metal that will need to be taken into consideration when doing the repairs.
Ryan says the plan so far is to line the piles back up and weld them together so that there is no further damaging movement. Crews can then reinforce the structure with steel beams, or place collars around the piles. As of now there are no cost estimates, and it is too early to have a timeline on the repairs.
Ryan says the breakwater failure has no effect on harbor use. The breakwater walkway is closed to the public.
