First the concrete barriers and landscaping trees and curbs were removed.
The next step was removal of the asphalt and concrete bike path, along with the riprap rock revetment on the beach. The parking lot started to look like this:
Next the underground utilities were removed, including a 3 ft concrete storm drain as well as electrical lines that ran the length of the parking lot.
At this point the stage is set for the restoration of a natural beach. This is what the erosion-damaged bike path looked like a decade ago:
The same area during the initial demolition:
This is the view from the levee looking back toward the project area. The hole in the beach is almost all that remains of the rip-rap revetment:
A couple of high tides, along with medium swells, quickly erased almost all traces of the rocks.
Next the graders went to work removing the dirt fill that had been placed underneath the parking lot.
Non-beach compatible soil was moved back into the fairgrounds parking lot, and the area beneath the parking lot was excavated down to around the elevation of low tide. Any excavated sand was set aside for future use.
This deep trench will be filled with a mix of cobble and sand, and then buried under reconstructed sand dunes. This 'cobble berm' was designed to provide protection from future erosion.
The next post will describe this more...
