Pacific Dredge and Construction has completed a multi-faceted project in Newport Beach, California improving the channel and east jetty. The intent of the jetty repair was to make it safer for the public, and dredging activities were performed with the goal of bringing the water depth to an original and permitted elevation for vessels to transit safely while entering/exiting the harbor.
The jetty-repair portion of the project included demolition and disposal of the existing concrete pedestrian walkway collar, placement of new rebar and concrete collar. Additionally, stone placement along the jetty walkway occurred to raise the revetment height. The added armor stones protect the existing seawall, minimize the fall hazard, and dissipate the force of waves and swell, especially during rough weather conditions. The jetty re-opened to the public Aug. 25, after the placement of 4,500 tons of stone and 150 cubic yards of concrete.
To do this work PDC used the versatile PDC-180 crane barge. The Manitowoc 4600 Crane aboard is a duty cycle machine that was instrumental in this project. All stone work was done with a rental crane.
The dredging portion of the project was comprised of two parts: dredging of the harbor’s Entrance Channel, which started May 24, and dredging of Balboa Reach, which Pacific Dredge & Construction finished on May 20th.
Crane barge PDC-180 did this work as well with a clamshell bucket. The dredged material was loaded into scows PDC 2001 and PDC 2002, twin 2000-yard dump scows.
The sediment dredged from Balboa Reach was transported to LA-3, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-approved Ocean disposal site, which is located 4.3 nautical miles southwest of the harbor’s entrance.
Pacific Dredge and Construction placed beach-quality dredged material from the Entrance Channel in the nearshore disposal area along Balboa Beach to help re-nourish the peninsula beach.
PDC is proud to have conducted this work under the auspices of the US Army Corps of Engineers which collaborated with State Water Resources Control Board and City of Newport Beach. Infrastructure is the physical means of improving conditions for the future and PDC is built to make it happen.