Swampscott Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said that the town’s multi-year seawall repair project has entered its final phase.
A portion of the wall’s structural deterioration is the effect of a winter storm in 2018, but Cresta emphasized that the normal tides of the ocean naturally cause damage as well.
“It was deteriorating over the years from a lack of maintenance, but with the tides hitting the wall, the ocean really does a number on the wall,” Cresta said.
Phase five involves securing the part of the wall that runs from the Monument Avenue Intersection to Humphrey Street’s Mission on the Bay restaurant, which sits on a privately-owned wall. According to Cresta, phase five is expected to cost approximately 500,000, raising the total cost of the project to $2.7 million. While $426,000 was acquired from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the rest is coming from town funds.
Concrete company Xtreme Shotcrete was contracted by the town to carry out the first four phases of the repairs, and has returned to complete the task.
They shoot this gunite over the entire wall to put a nice finish on it after they fill out the voids.
Public Works Director Gino Cresta
Xtreme Shotcrete’s repair process includes removing all the loose cement, and filling in voids with a dry cement mix known as gunite.
Since assuming his role in 2003, Cresta said that the seawall has not undergone a restoration of this magnitude. He expects the project to be completed within the next four to six weeks.
