Repair project for inlet’s north walkway nearing completion

If everything goes as planned, for the first time in seven years, the walkway and popular fishing spot on the north side of the Indian River Inlet will be fully open in just a couple of months.

A 120-foot section of the walkway has been closed since 2018. The walkway collapsed after a 110-foot-deep scour hole formed on the inlet’s north bulkhead because of strong winds, fast currents and ever-changing tides. There’s a manmade cause too – an inlet-wide pile of riprap that was placed in the 1980s along the base of an old inlet bridge exacerbated the scouring issue.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started working about nine months ago on a $5.3 million project to fix the bulkhead and walkway, and to sand-tighten a portion of the south jetty. North bulkhead work included the driving of steel sheets, each 50 feet long and weighing about 3,500 pounds, and placement of about 1,900 tons of rock.

Steve Rochette, Army Corps spokesperson, said Feb. 19 they are estimating the walkway could be open by April. The contract is wrapping up, but the Army Corps is working on a modification to add some concrete next to the sidewalks to prevent future erosion, he said.

Part of this project also included the removal of a concrete foundation that served an old Coast Guard antenna near the north jetty, but that wasn’t done.

Rochette said that foundation was not removed because it was in the water most of the contract and is now completely buried by the state’s replenishment project. The plan is to remove it as part of the next contract, he said.

The Army Corps had discussed the possibility of extending the inlet’s north jetty, but that was not included because more geotechnical data is needed to determine the best path forward.

Rochette said the Army Corps is currently working through the design of that extension and is planning to advertise a contract later this year, in the late summer or early fall. Rochette said the Army Corps has collected the data and done hydrodynamic modeling that will help support the design effort.

The Army Corps isn’t putting a life expectancy on the work once the project is complete. This is considered a maintenance project by the Army Corps; the number of years it will last is unknown.