Starting from mid-February, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be conducting repairs to the North Jetty at the Mouth of the Columbia River.
The jetty, North Jetty Road and nearby parking lots will be closed to public access from Feb. 12 – Oct. 30, 2018 and March 17 – Nov.1, 2019. Benson and Waikiki beaches are not affected by these repairs and will remain open during construction, reported the Corps.
USACE constructed the MCR jetty system between 1885 and 1939. The system consists of three rubble-mound jetties: North Jetty, South Jetty and Jetty A. The jetties, which together total 9.7 miles in length, minimize navigation channel maintenance and make passage safer for vessels transiting between the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River.
The upcoming repairs are the second phase of the Corps’ overall effort to overhaul the three aging jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River. USACE completed two years of work on the mile-long “A” Jetty in 2017, at a cost of about $30 million, according to the Corps’ 2012 “Major Rehabilitation Evaluation Report.”
During the third phase, scheduled to take place between 2019 and 2023, USACE will rehabilitate the six-mile-long South Jetty at an estimated cost of at least $147 million.