Work resumes on Rochester Harbor East Pier

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District has awarded a $3.85 million contract to Illinois-based Great Lakes Dock and Materials, L.L.C. for repairs to the Rochester Harbor East Pier in Rochester, New York.

Repairs will ensure the pier, along with its adjacent federal navigation channel, continue to provide safe passage and refuge for commercial and recreational vessels between the Genesee River, Lake Ontario and the rest of the Great Lakes.

“Maintaining harbors like Rochester ensures the Great Lakes Navigation System continues to bolster the nation’s economic strength and quality of life,” said Lt. Col. Eli Adams, commander of the Buffalo District. “The Buffalo District is also excited to add to the pier work we completed in 2021 and make sure the full length of the structure remains an asset for the people of Rochester and the state of New York.”

Repairs will encompass an approximately 425-foot section of the pier and will include the driving of steel sheet pile on both sides of the existing concrete and timber crib pier structure, anchoring the tops of the parallel sheet pile wall together with bolted double steel channel wales and tie rods, backfilling the space between the sheet pile and existing pier structure with granular fill, and placing a reinforced concrete slab over the granular fill between the sheet pile walls.

The work will also involve temporary removal and reconstruction of a portion of existing rubble mound stone wave absorbers on the west side of the pier, as necessary, to drive the sheet pile.

As reported by USACE, construction is scheduled to begin in Summer 2022 and be completed by Fall 2022. During the works, the navigation channel will remain open, but the construction site and portions of the pier to the north will be fenced off and inaccessible.