If you haven’t visited the waterfront recently, you might notice some changes near Waterfront Park as the Seawall Project continues construction. Over the next few weeks, large sections of the new seawall will be installed in this location. This location is adjacent to Waterfront Park, which provides a unique opportunity to view seawall construction up close. Stop by and see this once-in-a-lifetime project unfold.
Onlookers peer through the fence to view seawall construction at Waterfront Park
Face panels are in place at Waterfront Park
Last week, the seawall face panels were installed at Waterfront Park. The new face of the seawall includes different texture designs that provide a surface for algae and other marine organisms to attach, providing food for migrating salmon.
A new face panel is lowered into place at Waterfront Park. Each panel weighs 18,000 pounds!
The new seawall face panels installed at Waterfront Park feature a cobble stone design.
Marine mattress installation this week
Marine mattresses will be installed later this week in front of the new seawall adjacent to Waterfront Park. These rectangular, plastic mesh bags filled with stone provide an improved, shallow nearshore habitat for migrating salmon and other marine life. With light filtering down to the water through the new glass blocks in the sidewalk overhead, these marine mattresses will promote the growth of vegetation along this corridor as well.
Marine mattresses were installed south of Colman Dock last winter.
Each marine mattress is constructed off-site, and the mesh bags include several compartments that are filled with various-sized rocks which provide a more favorable substrate for habitat growth. The plastic mesh is hand-braided together to close the bags, and then the marine mattresses are trucked to the site for installation.
Left – stones are scooped into the marine mattress mesh bags; Right – once full, a worker hand-braids the mesh bag closed.
Next up – Zee panels
After the face panels and marine mattresses are in place, the zee panels will be installed. These large, zee-shaped concrete panels will hold the sidewalks that contains the embedded glass blocks. Get a sneak peek at this work by watching this video of zee panel installation south of Colman Dock!
Zee panels have been precast off-site and are ready to be installed at Waterfront Park.
For more information about seawall construction, visit the Seawall Project website. If you have questions, email (seawall@waterfrontseattle.org) or call the 24-hour hotline 206-618-8584.