Geotechnical contractors for Soundwest Engineering Associates arrived last Tuesday with a marine drilling rig in tow, to pull core samples from the bottom of Liberty Bay as the Port of Poulsbo begins moving forward into the design and permitting stage for a breakwater replacement project.

The project would see the existing breakwater torn down and replaced with more than 900 linear feet of floating breakwater, donated to the port from the Elliott Bay Marina back in the summer of 2018. Currently, the floating breakwater has been rafted up against the aging creosote breakwater at the southern end of the port’s marina.

John Piccone, owner of Soundwest Engineering Associates — the group tapped by the Port of Poulsbo for the breakwater project — said core samples were used to determine the depth needed to sink the steel support piles which will hold the floating sections of breakwater in place. Piccone estimated that the piles would need to be embedded some 40 to 60 feet into the soil for the forthcoming project.

The new floating breakwater is expected to extend out an additional 75 feet further into Liberty Bay than the existing breakwater, and will be open to the public. According to Piccone, the port hopes to have the project completed sometime in 2021.