Video of Work on the Outer Jetty as seen from the Low Tide Line

I also shot a short video from the low tide line of work going on the outer jetty. Two of the excavators were busy moving stones around. The crane was not very active.the stones in the foreground are the groin (short spur jetty).

Somedays, there is lot action at the construction site and other days there is not much going on. This was one of those quieter days.

View from the Low Tide Line

All of these photos are from the low tide line. They offer a different perspective on the construction site.

Repairs on the groin have processed rapidly.

New stone added to groin s part of process of rebuilding it.

A view of Salisbury water tower  and beach.

The pile of small and medium size stone waiting to be loaded onto the scowls.

Concrete Pump Truck & Form for Navigational Aid Base

The crew has built a form to pour a new concrete base for the navigational aid towers for the Salisbury jetty. Both old towers were taken and their concrete bases demolished in the first few weeks of jetty repairs. The form was built on top of a wood platform on the beach. A pump truck was brought in to pump concrete from the paved parking lot to the form on the beach.

 

Crew working on the concrete form

 

Finished form. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see some interesting details. The form is held down on the wood platform by chains.

A series of photos showing the boom of the concrete pump  truck unfolding.

Finished Product

Blue Tug Boat on "Guard Duty"

The barges and stone scowls are sharing the narrow channel at the mouth of the Merrimack River with commericial and pleasure boats. Many boaters are being respectful of the construction crew. Unfortunately,some boaters have been discourteous - driving by too fast and creating wake (in violation of navigational rules for the mouth) and / or getting too close to the barges. This creates a safety risk for the crew. One of the tug boats is being use to patrol the mouth while the barges and scowls are moved. The tug boat positions itself so it keep boaters from getting to close or force them to slow down. In the video you can see (off and on) the blue tug on the right side of the screen on "guard duty."  These tugboats are fast, powerful and very agile... not a boat you want to mess with.

Not the most exciting video but documents another aspect of the jetty repair operations.

Two more barges brought in to the jetty

The stone scowls which had been used to bring out the large multi-ton stone blocks to the Salisbury jetty have largely been commandeered for moving the small and medium stone. Two empty flat topped barges were brought in to haul the large stones out. The top of the barges were covered with heavy wood planks.

 

This barge originates from Boston

This photo shows the wood plank used to protect the barge from damaged when loading and offloading the stones.

The two barges beached side by side. The barge on the right is marked "JMC 159, Houma. LA"

 

A flat top barge on the left and stone scowl on the right.

Time for a Snack

A beachgoer or fisherman left their chair and ziplock bag of snacks unattended. They were setup on the section of beach along the Merrimack River. An enterprising sea gull saw an opportunity for a free meal, or so it thought. The gull couldn't figure out how to get into the ziplock bag. However, the gull was very determined and dragged the bag down the beach, around the end of the construction fence, and even fended off another gull. I eventually lost sight of it. Probably would make a great commercial for ziplock - their bags are seagull proof!

Site Maintenance (Claw & Tires)

One of the routine parts of any construction site, is repairing equipment and other maintenance duties. I happen to be at the site when one of the excavators was bringing up a claw to the top of the beach from a different excavator. A forklift grabbed the claw and drove it out to parking area for repairs. I have a short video of this. On another day, I saw the forklift lifting tires into the tracked dump truck. I am not quite sure what the tires were being used for given almost all the vehicles on the site have tracks. The barges have a number of tires hung over the ends and used as fenders. They may have been intended for this purpose.

Video of the claw being brought in by the excavator.

A chain was attached to the claw and hooked to the arm of the excavator.

A series of photos showing the forklift load the tracked dump truck with two different site tires.

Monster Tractor

It was low tide that day. I took advantage of this to walked down towards the water. I took the video at an up slope angle which makes the tractor appear even bigger than it is. When the flatbed trucks arrive the huge stone blocks are taken off and set down nearby. The flatbed have been arriving prior to 11 am to avoid the traffic backup from the beach goers. The steady stream of trucks results in a lot of stone accumulating near the unloading area. The excavator needs to move all of the stone to a different storage location to get it out of the way. This is what is happening in the video.

"Monster Tractor" video, excavator moving multi-ton stones.

A young boy watches with fascinating as the excavator moves the stones.

Herding Beachgoers out of the Construction Site

Visitors and beachgoers to the beach at Salisbury Beach State Reservation have generally been respectful of the fences and signs informing people to stay out of the construction because of the obvious dangers posed by large tractors and truck moving around the site. I was surprised on a hot day in late August to find some beach goers having walked around the end of the fence at low tide into the construction site. A few had even gotten up on the jetty itself. This occurred during the week when the construction site was in operation. One of the construction crew drove down to the beach area with the tracked dumped truck and kicked the beach goers out. I caught on video the dump truck "herding" two people metal detecting off the beach.

 

The tracked dump trucking heading down the beach to kick people out of the construction site.