Concerns over unfinished Nahant Causeway

NAHANT – Nahant resident Vi Patek was concerned about potential flooding hazards if the causeway renewal project went unfinished, so she and others caused their own flood in the form of emails to state representatives.After hearing that contractor Pihl Inc. walked off the job Sept. 16, Patek, a champion of coastal communities as president of Safer Waters in Massachusetts, reached out to community members to share her concerns.Patek said she knew the Department of Conservation and Recreation had committed to finishing by their May target date, but she was worried about the risk posed by what lay unfinished until then.?When the winter storms arrive there is grave risk of the dune failing because of the loss of the wall which has supported its base for many years and serious risk of the loose cement structures being hurled out into the roadway by incoming waves,” Patek wrote in her email.With 303 people on her distribution list and the message forwarded a few times, Patek estimated about 500 people could have read the message, and it paid off. On Wednesday, Town Administrator Andrew Bisignani called Patek to tell her Rep. Steve Walsh, Sen. Thomas McGee and DCR Commissioner Jack Murray were setting up a meeting with him in the next several days to give updates.Bisignani said though he?s already been pleased with the response of DCR and state reps, he was glad to see residents getting involved. “It?s a pretty hard thing for them to overlook,” he said of residents and the halted work on the causeway, adding that in the last week he?s been stopped by many on the street asking for updates on the situation.Recently, business owners of Tides Restaurant and Dunkin? Donuts were the latest to express concern, said Bisignani. “They say their businesses have suffered because of construction in the last several years, and they are hoping for a speedy conclusion to the work,.”Bisignani said Walsh, McGee and Murray have informed him that DCR is currently in negotiation with bonding company AIG to get the project going again.