Long awaited repairs to Gulfport piers ahead of schedule

GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) -

Demolition to four of the city's public piers that were severely damaged by Hurricane Isaac is now complete. Now, it's time to start repairs.

"This is great news for the City of Gulfport. Progress is being made, daily. The crews are out here working, and we're excited to get the people back on the piers," Gulfport spokesman Chris Vignes said.

Gulfport officials have been working closely with a contractor to make sure the four piers in Gulfport are quickly repaired so they can reopen.

Project Manager Walt Rode says so far, the process to get the piers back in usable shape has been smooth, even with a small delay.

"Some of our delays were directly related to the environmental, biological opinion review by Natural Marine Fishery Services under NOAA. FEMA had to get the clearance before they could approve the project, and once it was approved, we had to go through the typical bidding process required for procurement. From that point, we went out for bids and secured a contractor," Rode said.

Rode says because of the contractor's aggressiveness, they're actually ahead of schedule.

"We have a really good contractor, J.E. Borries. They're ahead of construction schedule. They've completed all of their demolition on all of our piers. They're currently working on the demolition of some of our jetties here at Urie Pier," Rode said.

Rode says as each pier is finished, it will be opened to the public. It's news many have been waiting to hear.

"We're very excited, and we're ready for the people to start getting use back out of their piers," Rode said.

View original post here:
Long awaited repairs to Gulfport piers ahead of schedule