Causeway plan a Nahant concern

NAHANT – Selectman Richard Lombard said he was disappointed that the wave wall separating the Long Beach parking lot from the causeway will only extend to line half the length of the causeway.The selectmen said at their meeting Thursday they had previously met with Town Administrator Andy Bisignani, state Sen. Thomas McGee and Department of Conservation and Recreation engineers, and discovered that it was always in the DCR?s plans to have only half the causeway lined with the wave wall and the other half with a guardrail and chain link fence. The Nahant representatives were told that it would cost another $2.5 million and another year of construction to extend the wall to match the length of the causeway.Lombard said the lack of wall could lead to a number of safety concerns, including flooding during storm surges because the causeway is five feet below sea level and the fence is being hit by snowplows in the winter because it isn?t easily seen. He said there wasn?t enough protection for the pedestrians in the parking lot from the cars driving on the causeway.Lombard said he was hoping the wall extension could be funded in the future, but he doubted the state could fund it with the already over $20 million that was invested in the causeway project. “Maybe the town would fund it, but we?re so tight on money. Even if we weren?t, I?m not sure people would vote to spend $2.5 million on the causeway, being a state road,” he said. Lombard said a DCR engineer told him it could happen if there is money left over.?We?ll have to wait and see what happens,” said Lombard. “It would look much nicer, more attractive if we had it all the way down. I don?t think the chain link fence is going to look very attractive.”Chairman Michael Manning said while it would look nicer extending the length of the causeway, he disagreed with Lombard that there would be safety concerns. “I?m less concerned about the elevation difference because the plan going forward has a lot to improve the drainage and make storms a lot more manageable,” he said. “I?m waiting to see until it?s finished, but what I have seen of the guardrail supports looks quite well.”Bisignani said the project is still on schedule to be completed by November 2013.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].