Big Dock Update February 5

Pilings in place as of January 31, 2008.

Construction of Cedar Key's new Big Dock is moving forward, with 25 percent of the pilings completed according to Fran Subjinski of Lucas Marine Construction. Delivery of concrete for the pilings via Dock Street has worked well Subjinski said. However, soon the newer pilings will be set farther off-shore and concrete deliveries will come to the end of A Street to be shuttled by barge to the construction site. Once one third of the pilings are in place construction of the dock's deck will begin.

Soil conditions (depth of bedrock) have been found to be quite variable. That has made it necessary to put pilings much deeper than had been expected. The problem arose despite two geotechnical surveys by Universal Engineering in 2007. The first piling in place was thirteen feet deeper than expected, at 73 feet. The remainder of the pilings are expected to be set at 48 to about 60 feet deep according to Mr. Philip Chansey of Mills Engineering, the Levy County engineering firm overseeing the project.

The County's contract with Lucas Marine Construction allows for a two week delay in completion of the work. That agreement reset the completion date as July 28, 2008.