Repair work to the city's barge ramp will be necessary in the near future, according to Harbormaster Steve Miller, though a timeline and budget for renovations are still being drawn up.
Miller reported to the borough assembly and port commission that a March 4 inspection of the barge ramp found several areas needing repair. The last assessment by an engineering firm was done in 2011.
An area in most immediate need of work is the floats that allow the ramp to move up and down with the tide to match up with the barge deck.
"Upon completion of the inspection, we found that most coatings are beyond their serviceable life,"he wrote. "There are large sections of the transfer span floatation tanks that the coatings are either gone or flaking of in large sections."
Miller said the floats would need sandblasting, new paint and zincs welded on. He hopes the work can be done this summer, though he said plans are still being organized.
He mentioned other areas of the ramp that need work, as well, but would likely be done piecemeal over two or three years. These areas include wear to bulkhead connections, recoating the ramp's pile dolphins, and reattaching some wood fender pilings.
"It's been on our list for a while, but it's time to get it done,"Miller said. "This thing was put in in the '70s, and in the late '80s, and early '90s there was a bunch of that type of work done to it. Now it's time to do it all again. ... I'm not 100% sure on the cost right now but it's going to kind of be expensive. We're lucky we have local contractors in town that we'll be able to probably get on the job, of course it'll go out to bid."
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