Boardwalk repairs could cost $400,000

Rehoboth Beach engineers say repairs to the Boardwalk after the Jan. 22 storm will cost $150,000 to $400,000.

Mayor Sam Cooper said Kercher Engineering, designer of the 2009 Boardwalk rebuild, has assessed the damage as part of the city's assessment of storm damage to be submitted to state and federal officials for disaster relief funding. Cooper said another assessment will be scheduled to determine a repair plan.

As a temporary fix, City Manager Sharon Lynn said the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has come in and pushed sand towards the Boardwalk to provide a barrier.

Lynn said the Streets Department has monitored the beach area near the Boardwalk and has seen no signs of further erosion. At this point, she said, the area has been shored up as best as can be to make sure the damage does not get worse.

The city has blocked off a 200-foot section of the Boardwalk most affected by the storm from Stuart Kingston Gallery on Grenoble Place to the Henlopen Hotel at the north end of the Boardwalk. After the dunes protecting the Boardwalk washed away, Cooper said water rushed under the Boardwalk, lifting the boards and breaking the stringers that hold the decking together.

“The stringers are attached to a ledger board by metal ties. The ledger board is in turn bolted to the pile cap. The uplift force split the ledger board allowing the stringer to rise off of the pile cap,” he said.

Commissioner Stan Mills, who spearheaded the Boardwalk restoration in 2009, said when viewed from the outside edge of the boardwalk, the concrete pilings and girders appear unscathed.

Primary repairs would include replacement of damaged wooden structures and repairs of foot-showers, Mills said.

He said Kercher’s preliminary costs include estimates of labor and materials required to address the scope of estimated repairs. A more thorough inspection under the boardwalk is required to pinpoint repair specifications and costs, he said.

Should the city not receive federal disaster funding, Cooper said the city will explore other avenues.

“If all else fails the city will fund the repairs itself. One possibility would be to ask our state senator and representative to contribute to the effort from their Community Transportation Funds,” he said.

For now, Cooper said, the city is playing a waiting game as far as disaster relief, which would enable the city to get reimbursed for the repairs. However, given that the project would need to be contracted out, Cooper said work could go on until spring.