Olcott Harbor Breakwater Construction

Significant Project Features

• Project funded by New York State Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative (REDI).
• Worked closely with the Lafarge quarry to meet the demanding stone and material delivery schedule.
• Constructed a 520-ft break wall offshore near the mouth of the harbor, extended and stabilized both the east and west sides of the Olcott Pier, and restored the beach and shoreline.
• 116,000 tons of core, intermediate and armor stone in various size was used in project.
• Community relations and close communication with the quarry were important aspect of the project.
• Achieved 10,996 safe work hours.

Project Gallery

History & Location Details

Project Description

Challenges

One challenge associated with this project was the project team’s ability to meet the rock specification. No large boulder could fracture during placement. Sevenson and WSP worked closely with Lafarge on the quality control requirements to make sure material delivered met this specification. Safe access and egress to the harbor where material was stockpiled was also a challenge. The village of Olcott, NY is a small community where cottage homes and businesses are in close proximity to each other. Maintaining the integrity of the village roads was a concern. Since each truckload weighed 22 tons the potential for damage to streets was very real. 5100 truckloads of stone delivered 116,000 tons of material over the course of the project. Sevenson worked with the town to develop a new traffic pattern to minimize disruption to the community from the truck traffic. The revised traffic pattern was so popular that it has become  permanent. The streets were repaved during restoration with additional funding from REDI.

Scope of Work

Sevenson worked closely with Larfage’s local quarry to maintain delivery schedules for the rock; the Newfane, NY town board; WSP Engineering; and the Village of Olcott, NY residences and businesses to successfully meet the objectives established for this project. In addition to the construction of the offshore breakwall, Sevenson also extended both the east and west piers as well as restored the public beach and shoreline.The Olcott Harbor Breakwater project was developed to improve the existing condition of the harbor as well as protect infrastructure in the community affected from adverse weather.

Breakwater

The construction of the breakwater included placement of an offshore rubble mound stone breakwater and a rubble mound stone lining. A total of 59,000 tons of stone was placed. The breakwater was constructed 650-ft offshore. It was designed to provide wave attenuation generated in Lake Ontario from storm events before reaching the harbor. The rubble mound was constructed using 3 layers of stone – an inner core layer comprised of 2 to12-in stone; an intermediate filter layer comprised of stone weighing between 600 to 1500 lbs each; and an exterior armor layer comprised of stone weighing between 3 to 7.5 tons each.  The offshore breakwater is approximately 520 feet long. Stone was loaded onto barges in the harbor from stockpiles utilizing a Sennebogan 860. Barges were pushed to the breakwater where they were offloaded and material placed.

Pier Extension

As part of this contract, Sevenson extended and lined Olcott Harbor’s east and west piers. The sheetpile piers were damaged from adverse weather events over time and required reinforcement with stone mounds.The east pier is approximately 540 feet and was extended an additional 80 feet. The west pier is approximately 460 feet  and was extended 100 feet. The pier extensions were constructed in a similar manner as the breakwater using the same size stone. A total of 57,000 tons of stone was placed  Sevenson loaded stone into Moxys from the harbor stockpiles. The Moxys backed down the pier to a location where smaller core stone was dumped and larger size filter and armor stone was picked and place with a grapple attached to an excavator. The exterior lining of the pier was constructed from the shore outward by dumping all-terrain haulers, and building a road way out to the design specifications. 750 loads of stone were installed utilizing this method. In addition, Sevenson relocated an existing navigation light, a pole and equipment and added three new navigation lights, poles and equipment to the ends of the piers and the offshore breakwater.  Fishing piers were added as well for the fishermen in the town.

Restoration

Restoration activities included restoring the community beach adjacent to the piers. Small sized stone and sand were placed.  Other restoration activities included repaving the truck access and egress roads in the village to repair damage from the stone deliveries. Other areas of the harbor affected by construction operations were cleaned up and restored to pre-existing condition.