Endicott College Seawall Replacement

Background

Endicott College is situated in Beverly, Massachusetts on the shoreline surrounding Salem Sound and Black Rock Beach with views of Marblehead across the Sound. The site is a combination of large coastal bluffs and dramatic exposed bedrock outcroppings. Since the early 1900s the shoreline has been stabilized by a stone seawall which had reached the end of its useful life. In 2018, a Nor-easter caused significant damage to the seawall and adjacent coastal bank, resulting in the immediate need for its replacement.

Approach

Foth worked with Endicott College to address the variable site conditions through the development of 10 design alternatives for the project. Each alternative was evaluated for performance, impacts to resource areas, life cycle costs, and projected service life. The structure needed to be designed to provide protection against a 100-year storm event and have a minimum service life of 75 years. Ultimately, Foth worked with Endicott College to identify the preferred project alternative which included replacement of the vertical stone seawall with a sloped stone revetment.

Prior to the design and construction of the selected solution, Foth coordinated emergency seawall repairs to stabilize three sections of failed seawall until the permanent replacement could be implemented. Once the shoreline was stabilized, our team worked diligently to prepare the engineering design for the replacement coastal protection structure, secure the necessary environmental permits from local, state, and federal agencies with jurisdiction at the project site, and provide full-time construction support and oversight services as part of a design-build effort with Northern Construction, LLC.

Results

The APD method allowed the project team to provide a single point of accountability, streamline project management, help expedite the schedule, and control costs. In total, approximately 750 linear feet of stone revetment was successfully completed on-time and within budget.