By DAVID WILKINS - DAILY WORLD WRITER, The Aberdeen Daily World , 10/28/98
In a giant wave-tank at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Miss., a pygmy version of Westport is being battered with Munchkin-sized hurricanes and tidal waves.
The tests are part of the Corps' efforts to find the ideal solution to Westport's continuing problems with erosion.
A major project will get under way soon.
The latest crisis began in 1993 when a series of storm-whipped high tides washed out the isthmus that sheltered Halfmoon bay from the full force of the Pacific, flooding the beach and low-lying areas beyond, and threatening the city's sewage treatment plant.
The anti-erosion project will initially encompass $10 million worth of federal construction contracts funded from the Corps' 1999 budget, and involve building a half-mile-long series of revetments in Halfmoon Bay and under the dunes northeast of Westhaven State Park.
The first phase of work, including the revetments under the dunes and a wave-barrier jetty, should be completed by September of next year, according to Westport's city administrator, Randy Lewis.
Lewis recently visited Vicksburg to see the model of the city. Testing on the model will determine the best final shape and dimensions for the various parts of the project.
The solutions now being tested in miniature form include subsurface rock revetments to anchor the dunes along the northwest and west coast lines.
A jetty extension tipped with a specially-shaped bulbous "nose" will extend into Halfmoon Bay and deflect waves away from the main South Jetty. The goal is to dissipate the wave action past the bay and along Point Chehalis.
"The surfers should love it," said Lewis. "All of that wave energy will get sent right up into the areas they like the best."
The subsurface revetments will be dike-like structures built under the sand dunes, in order to stabilize beach areas against high waves and "catastrophic events." More than 90,000 cubic yards of sand will be moved and then replaced once the revetments are built.
"Obviously, the primary goal is to protect the sewer plant," said Lewis. "Without that, we're out of business."
Mayor Berkley Barker noted that Westport's experience in getting the projects funded and on track has become a model for other towns.
"We've started getting calls from other cities asking us how we did it," said Barker. "Both from an engineering and an organizational standpoint."
One of the areas Westport has been able to effect real change, say officials, is in the way the Corps of Engineers deals with shipping-channel dredging.
"They used to take all of the sand they dredged out and dump it in deep water," said Mayor Barker. "They've come to realize that that practice actually contributes to erosion problems."
The Corps has pledged to dump future dredge spoils from the Grays Harbor shipping channel in Halfmoon Bay, Lewis said. The sand returned to the area will help retard further erosion.
"Right now the Corps' (long-range) plan is to spend $45 million to gradually extend a new jetty ... and cut off Halfmoon Bay over the next 20 years," said Lewis. The city administrator added that Westport will work with consultants and the Corps to ensure that the move won't ruin surfing or heavily impact other recreational activities.
The Port of Grays Harbor and the city have been looking for ways to develop the bay into a resort area. Ideas for the site have included hotels and golf courses.
Money for the initial $10 million worth of work has already been allocated, according to Lewis, and initial bids for some of the work have already been received by the Corps.
"Once they work it out, you should see contracts hitting the street very soon," Lewis told the City Council on Tuesday. "There was a delay this past week, because one of the bids was apparently very low, and some of the other contractors challenged it. But that's a seven-to-10-day process."
Back to Whats New Index Page
Back to CRC Index Page
Back to Estuary Index Page
Back to Grays Harbor County Issues Index Page