In 2018 Rockport widened much of the Long Beach seawall walkway beginning at the Gloucester side and stretching past the midpoint. Recently crews began extending this project straight through to the end point on the Rockport side. The work is expected to be completed in a couple of weeks.
Rocky explained it’s done in segments and moving right along.
Besides this big project, the getting ready for summer bustle is in full swing. Annual staircase return? Check! Front row cottage work? Check! New patio and masonry work by the former hotel (photos 2018 vs 2019 below) where the stone patio was compromised, various yardwork and private deck repairs are visible along the promenade.
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JANUARY 2019 (BEFORE REPAIRS) Long Beach looking from Gloucester Mass side to Rockport- this edge of the beach has more tide to stage construction from. Construction crews will contend with tides as they did last year.
Plenty of prior GMG posts (search “Long Beach seawall”); here are a few:
What a stunner day for the next phase of the Long Beach seawall repair. They’re loading and raking in fill to level the walkway today. Roller still to come.
speedy backing up
this way and that still to come
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Photos show the next stage in the seawall repair on the walkway (what the white spray paint meant). The promenade is two lanes: the ocean lane is a bit higher for now. Hooray!~more staircases are passable.
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photo: A tree tossed up like a toothpick atop the rip rap helps to illustrate the ocean’s twice daily whollops.
vulnerable spots clearly visible to the naked eye (I marked up two with red lines)
When the seawall opened up and heavy concrete sections balanced like hanging chads or individual playing cards, I was not surprised. The massive promenade had shown signs of strain. Small fissures and tiny holes were noticeable before the winter storms accelerated its decline. Water finds a way in at high tides. The manmade wall is noticeably shifting and rumbling at a greater pace. Holes, cracks and breaks along the seawall expand, and new ones erupt. I can’t help conjuring up comparisons to Yellowstone’s boiling and unpredictable surface. I imagine stakeholders are mapping details of their immediate landscape. Though beaten down, the promenade is walkable and sturdy. Tiny holes do expand rather alarmingly.
example –
April 27
May 6
May 9
and another (filled)- the cone eventually dropped beneath the path
Fissures
more photos (before-afters, repairs, boulder pyres, stairs or lack thereof, and nuisance popples) and videos of seawall ramparts giant boulder shuffle
Marveling at the tenacity of coastal towns- Cape Ann public works after winter storms are no joke.
Spring staircases
Rockport, Mass. The many access stairs for the Long Beach pedestrian walkway are put back each spring. Some years, the landing platforms on the sand side need repair. The 2018 winter storms pummeled each and every access point. Landings on sand and up top, the railings, and treads were entirely stripped. The rebuild for a few of the staircases will remain on hold until their immediate seawall areas are tended.
April 2018 stairs going in where possible
Water shoes this summer
From there to here: popples and rocks from the decimated barrier wall between Long Beach and Cape Hedge Beach were deposited along Long Beach.
barrier wall displaced and great swaths landed on Long Beach
Where’s the beach?
Spring 2018, the ocean is several feet deep at the rip rap line every high tide
Good Morning Gloucester 