PORT TOWNSEND — The Wave Gallery observation platform is back in place, after a one-month process in which the original rotting wood supports were replaced with steel pilings.
The project reached a high-water mark on Wednesday, when the 18-ton structure was moved across a series of steel beams from its temporary location onto the new frame.
The move took about three hours, with the structure advancing about six inches every two minutes.
Workers soaped the top of the beams to allow the platform to slide across them, and used jacks to lower it into place.
Contractor Chad Wilson said the entire project went “almost too smoothly” and finished ahead of schedule.
It was a combined effort between Wilson Construction of Port Angeles and Monroe House Moving of Port Townsend.
The total cost was estimated to be $530,412, and the project was partially funded by a $265,206 Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation grant from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account.
The city of Port Townsend will fund the remaining project costs with money from a 2008 bond.
Project manager Tom Miller said the only step necessary before the platform is reopened to the public is the construction of a staircase on the west side of the gallery.
Miller gave no firm date for this, but said the goal is to have it completed by the opening day of the Wooden Boat Festival on Sept. 10.
The opposite access point, which will contain a ramp for handicapped access, will not be completed until the Tidal Clock is replaced.
The schedule for turning the adjacent Tidal Clock — also known as the Tidal Bowl, the Tidal Bowl, the Jackson Bequest and the less affectionate Tidy Bowl — into a small amphitheater is uncertain.
A public comment process conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was recently completed with only a few responses, Miller said.
He said that one comment expressed the desire to install a sandy beach, but consultant Matthew Boyle of Tacoma-based Grette Associates responded that such a move would be impossible because of erosion issues.
Boyle said that he is waiting for the Corps’ ruling, which he said will occur at its own speed.
“The government can take a while with these kinds of decisions,” he said.
Miller is ready to begin construction on the amphitheater when approval is granted, although he won’t do it during festival season.
He referred to the process in game terms.
“We’ve pinged, and now we are waiting for them to pong,” he said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
