August 1, 2012

Report Details

After two months of unprecedented activity and public pressure on Mile 218, Agate Beach is expected to return to some semblance of normalcy by early next week. Ever since the arrival of the large concrete-and-rebar Japanese dock at the high tide line on June 4th, tens (maybe hundreds) of thousands of visitors have trekked the quarter mile or so from the nearest wayside to view the remnant of the March 2011 tsunami in Japan. On Monday (July 30th), transformation of the beach ramped-up as Ballard Diving and Salvage built a temporary, wooden-timber and steel-plate road across the dunes out to the hard sand to accommodate the trucks which will be hauling the dock away in pieces after it is broken up for removal. An enormous lifting crane is situated on the beach near the dock. Ballard also constructed a temporary footbridge across Big Creek for visitors to access the beach; for the duration of the removal project the normal Agate Beach Wayside access point is closed. And, the beach area around the dock itself has been cordoned off. As part of Ballard’s contract with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the beach must be returned to its pre-project state when the company is through removing the dock. Most of the pieces will be hauled away for disposal, but one chunk from the dock’s southeast corner has been donated to the City of Newport to become the centerpiece of a tsunami memorial in the town’s Japanese sister-city park. Another piece will become part of the tsunami exhibit at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center. All in all, Mile 218 does not appear to have sustained any permanent damage from the onslaught of visitors, media, photo-ops and removal operations. However, next week I’ll file a report on exactly how well Ballard Diving and Salvage performed its post-project beach restoration.