PORT ANGELES — Piles will be installed beginning today for the new $25.6 million Navy pier project on Ediz Hook, the Navy said this week, a week after Navy officials announced a decision to wait until July 16.
The 425-foot pier and transfer span is planned to jut out from the south side of Ediz Hook facing the city shoreline.
The pier and accessory buildings are being built at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles a half-mile east of the entrance gate.
The city boat launch lies just west of the gate.
“Weather permitting, the contractor will begin installing piles for the pier [today],” Naval Base Kitsap spokeswoman Silvia Klatman said late Monday afternoon in an email.
She did not respond to a query asking whether installation includes pile-driving.
“The in-water construction window closes Feb. 15 and the Navy doesn’t expect all in-water construction will be completed by then,” Klatman said Monday.
“The next in-water window opens July 16.”
Klatman said in a Jan. 25 email that time was too short for the contractor to mobilize before the window closes Feb. 15 to protect migrating salmon.
“The window opens again on July 16, and we anticipate that opening will be the start of the in-water pier construction work,” Klatman said in the email.
Pile-driving, which will be mostly vibratory but will include impact pile-driving, will occur up to four hours a day for up to 75 days over 18 weeks, according to the Navy’s August 2016 environmental assessment of the project.
Noise-generating activities will occur from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and be exempt from state and city noise regulations.
“The temporary increase in noise levels would not be incompatible with existing adjacent uses,” the assessment said.
The contractor will install 80 temporary and 144 permanent in-water piles, according to the assessment.
The contractor is Watts-Orion Joint Venture of Gig Harbor.
Noise levels at the nearby Puget Sound Pilots Station will be about 68 decibels during vibratory pile-driving and 77 decibels during impact pile-driving, the assessment said.
“Potential noise impacts during pile driving at adjacent or nearby properties would range from mild to moderate annoyance, interfere with outdoor speech/communication, and cause intermittent short-term interference with daytime sleep at the Puget Sound Pilots Station during impact pile driving,” according to the assessment.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
