City Would Bear Most Of Costs In Fixing Salem's Seawalls

SALEM, MA -- City officials are planning to revisit a 2015 report about the condition of Salem's seawalls. That report said it would cost as much as $15 million to bring all 43 structures up to an "A" rating, with much of that cost falling on the city. At the March 8 City Council meeting, Ward 1 Councillor Robert McCarthy brought an order to revisit the report and consider making some of the fixes recommended in the report.

Another winter storm Tuesday meant Salem was bracing for high tides at 9:19 am and 9:54 pm, with forecasters predicting tides of 8.6 feet in the morning and 7.8 feet at night. In earlier storms this winter those high tides have resulted in widespread flooding. And some of the damage and flooding may be a result of the aging infrastructure outlined in the report.

The report was conducted by Bourne Consulting Engineering. It included an assessment of 43 structures designed to protect Salem from storm surges and gave them letter graded. Just five of the structures received a grade of A, 18 were graded B, 16 were graded C and four, or nearly 10%, were graded D. The report estimated that the cost of repairs to bring all 43 structures up to an A rating would be $14.91 million.

But all but five of the structures are owned by the City of Salem, meaning much of that cost would have to be paid for by the city. The report estimated the city's cost to bring all structures up to an A rating would be $12.5 million. If the city wanted to focus solely on the structures graded "D," the cost of repairs would be $5.8 million -- assuming the structures have not sustained more damage in the recent round of storms.

Much of the estimated repair costs would be for a 1,793-foot-long stone revetment on Szetela Lane at Collins Street. The report said the needed repairs have an estimated cost of $4.3 million and are "high priority." A complete upgrade of the structure would cost $8.5 million. The height of the dumped gravel revetment along Collins Cover varies from 10 to 15 feet and has been damaged by erosion.

The other two, city-owned structures graded D include:

• A stone seawall on the west end of Forest River Park that would cost an estimated $1.2 million to repair. Despite the low rating and a note that said the wall was ikely to fall, the structure was given a "low priority" in the 2015 report.
• A second, concrete seawall in Forest River Park was given "moderate priority" for repair. That structure, located at Pioneer Village, has an estimated repair cost of $466,884.

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Photo of seawall on Collins Cove by Bourne Consulting Engineering.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).