Pier without peer
Hurricane causes no delay in construction
Modern tech a big part of Pompano project.
POMPANO BEACH — Pompano Beach’s new pier will require enough concrete to cover an area a little bigger than a football field. It’ll also need enough wood to stretch almost 12 miles if the boards were placed end to end.
The old city pier, which has stood since John F. Kennedy was president, is being demolished, piece by piece, as it undergoes a complete rebuilding.
Tom Savino, 69, a retiree from Margate, walks Pompano Beach Boulevard almost every morning. He said he has been fascinated by the sight of the pier being removed piece by piece, and a new section put in its place, he said.
Now, the new pier is just big enough to hold a crane. And the crane is being used to dismantle the next section.
“The crane took one of the benches that had been on the pier and swung it over by the grassy area so we could sit and watch,” Savino said. “It’s interesting work.”
The pier was closed to the public in late May. Now, seven of the pier’s 40 spans have been completed, said Horacio Danovich, who is the manager of the city’s capital improvement projects.
At a distance, the east end of the pier looks as it has for the pier’s 54 years because work began at the west end of the walkway, which extends about 850 feet from shore.
The pier rebuilding was hastened by damage from hurricanes Wilma and Sandy, but Hurricane Irma didn’t touch a single board of the doomed pier.
And that’s probably going to give the $11.5 million project a better chance of finishing on time, early 2019, Danovich said.
“If Irma had done some demolition, we would have had to pick up the pieces from the bottom of the ocean,” Danovich said. “We had some cleanup, but they were back on construction by Tuesday.”
The new block of concrete at the pier’s west end stands in stark contrast to the next piling, of the old pier,