KINGSTON — As the ferry from Edmonds pulls into Kingston, passengers often see local residents lounging and playing on a small beach to the starboard side of the boat. But this summer, they will see a much different sight: A barge placing rock to rebuild a revetment that supports the ferry’s offload lanes on State Route 104.
In December 2006, a large storm pelted the steep hillside behind the beach. Rain and tides ran higher than normal. Waves blown by high winds that topped the bluff trail directly below the Washington Boulevard offload lanes for the ferry.
The port made some temporary repairs with concrete, but seepage from the hillside was soon evident and “the big storm also dislodged rock which led to the bank slipping. We needed to protect 104 and public access to the beach,” said Port of Kingston Project Manager Kori Henry. She is overseeing the $400,000 rebuilding project for the revetment, known locally as “North Beach,” that is being done by Sealevel Bulkhead Builders from Port Gamble.
After examining the damage, the Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed the revetment — that big rock bulkhead so visible from the ferry — could be rebuilt with money from the national disaster fund. FEMA is paying more than three-quarters of the cost with the rest split between the state and the port.
Henry acknowledged that “a lot of people are really unhappy that the beach is closed.” The port had few choices, however. The only other option, she said, was a late January start that would only allow a month for completion under the Department of Fish and Wildlife rules.
But in that heavy rain period, so much water would come out of the hillside that the contractor would have been forced to shore the bulkhead for safety — a very expensive cost — and the short time frame for completing the project “would have been cutting it too close,” Henry said. “We would likely have had to ask for extensions, and the agencies don’t like to give extensions unless it is absolutely necessary.”
The summer schedule, though, gives the contractor three months to complete the project, rather than one, and the dry weather removes the need for shoring, making the project safer and less expensive. At the current pace, Henry believes the project could be done before the scheduled Sept. 15 completion date.
The existing rock and anchor fabric will be removed, then new sand will be sprayed on the bank, new geo-fabric put in and anchored, and the old rock will be replaced with “Corps standard” rock which is larger than the DOT-standard rock used when the bulkhead was first built in 1976.
The rock is brought in by barge at high tide to be unloaded, but can’t be placed until low tide, according to Craig Powell of Sealevel. “It’s tough because the tug bringing it has to be dead slow so that it doesn’t prop the eel grass bottom. Right now the tides are not in our favor, but they will be next week,” he said.
Sealevel will place about 4,300 tons of rock, almost all of it by barge though some small material may be brought in by truck. Powell believes all the work can be completed without shutting down any lanes of S.R. 104. “Our intent is not to have any adverse effect on the traffic coming off the ferry,” he said.
The new revetment will be built back to the original “toe” of the project, roughly matching the high-water level, which will also re-open more of the beach, she said.
As part of the project, the existing beach trail will be raised from 14 feet above high-water level to 20 feet above the high-water mark. When the big storm hit, Henry said, the water topped the trail and began undercutting rock support. “The port doesn’t want to see that happen again,” she said.
Erosion from the storm has also shifted the concrete platform at the bottom of the public-access steps down to the beach, so it will be replaced, and some clearing of the brush that has accumulated in the past couple of years.
With the newer specifications, the new revetment “should last 50 years,” Henry said. “Hopefully in our lifetime we won’t have to fix it again.”
