Birch Bay berm work could resume this month

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Whatcom County public works engineer Jim Karcher told county council members that construction on Birch Bay’s ongoing 1.6-mile beach restoration project will resume soon, hopefully before the end of the month.

In a virtual public works and health committee meeting August 5, Karcher said the department’s goal is to restart work on the Birch Bay Drive berm before the end of the month.

The $8.7 million project, officially called the Birch Bay Drive and Pedestrian Facility Project, will replace the riprap, sea walls, groins and bulkheads along the shore with sand and gravel, according to the Whatcom County website. The project will recreate a natural seashore, reduce flooding and erosion through natural wave attenuation, and create bicycle and pedestrian paths.

The county anticipates the bulk of construction on the berm to be complete by the end of the year. That includes storm drainages infrastructure: pipes extending under the berm and into the water to assist drainage and stormwater treatment swales, but not the plantings, which would be finished in the late winter or spring 2021, Karcher said.

In May, Granite Construction, the county’s contractor for the project, finished the first of two rounds of construction. The construction was scheduled to be done in two phases in order to avoid working during the summer tourism season and fish spawning periods.

Karcher said the public works department intends to come back to council in September to request an additional $500,000 for the project’s budget. The extra funding would serve as insurance in case of a possible change or delay in construction.

Karcher said the department is working closely with the Whatcom Council of Governments, which administers various transportation funds in Whatcom County, in case other projects in the county have extra money. “Of course, the berm is there with its hand out saying ‘We can take the money and use it quickly,’” he said.

What that money would be used for isn’t clear, as the project is currently on or close to budget as of August 5, Karcher said.

Construction will likely have traffic impacts. The county’s website says to expect some single-lane and shoulder closures while work is in progress and that wait times for lane closures should be less than five minutes.

For more information, visit the county’s project page at bit.ly/3fZfmQx

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