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Post by Chuck McCue on Jul 5, 2022 12:17:16 GMT -5
The Jacksonville Pier opens tomorrow, July 6th! The Jacksonville Beach Pier will be re-opening on Wednesday, July 6 with a ribbon-cutting at 10:00am. In a phased re-opening, pedestrians will be allowed onto the pier from 7:00am-7:00pm, daily. During this phase, City officials and Jax Beach Police Department will be monitoring use of the pier and gathering community input prior to a full re-opening. Within two weeks, fishing will return to the pier with a three-rod limit and will otherwise comply with Florida Fish and Wildlife rules. A more detailed set of parameters will be released prior to the commencement of fishing. At this time, bathrooms and the bait shop will not be open. A comprehensive Request for Proposals will be released by the City in the coming months with the expectation of finalizing rules and parameters for pedestrian and fishing use of the pier. City of Jacksonville, Florida - Government City of Jacksonville Beach Police Department
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Post by Chuck McCue on Jul 6, 2022 21:25:32 GMT -5
New Pier
Words: Avery Dunavant. ©Charles R. McCue 2022.
Following Hurricane Matthew in October 2016 the Jacksonville Beach fishing pier has been closed to visitors and fishermen alike due to massive damage that left the structure unfit for use. An estimated 350 feet of the 1300-foot pier were destroyed in the hurricane, spewing debris across area beaches. The pier also sustained further damage the following year during Hurricane Irma. Renovation and reconstruction of the pier began in 2018 and has proceeded slowly due to permitting delays and the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic, however has since resumed. Efforts have been taken into account to rebuild the pier in its original form and character, but with stronger pilings and a higher deck to further protect the superstructure from hurricane swells. The new pier will retain the same length and end feature as the original piers design from 2004. Construction documents show that the first 320 feet of pier spanning from the boardwalk, and over the beach area will be kept as is, and the new, more robust sections will be added on to this existing section. The heavily damaged pier and pilings that extend past the 320-foot mark will be excavated and removed from the water in conjunction with the construction of the new sections. The removal of the damaged debris, seen and unseen, is what makes the construction process lengthy, as estimates put pier completion in to early 2022. Currently, construction features a temporary steel pier constructed directly north of the damaged pier and serves to support the heavy-duty equipment required for pile driving as well as debris extraction. This temporary steel pier will be removed following the completion of the project, leaving one single pier in its original location at the end of 4th avenue north. Fortifications to the new section of the pier include upgrading the piling size, as well as the number of pilings per span. The original pier had three pilings per span, with each piling measuring 18 inches. The new addition will boast four pilings per span and be 24 inches. The main change in the design is the raising of the deck 8 feet above the original deck height. Engineers believe that this rise will keep the end of the pier above most of the wave action brought by major hurricanes. To achieve this height change, the new pier will slope gradually upwards over a span of 180 feet, and then level out to complete the remaining length out to just under1300 feet . Construction has been delayed for multiple reasons in the past and the project is estimated to be completed at the beginning of 2022, however an active storm season in the fall of 2021 could further delay this construction work.
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