Take two: New Boundary Street boardwalk being rebuilt to improve views

Drivers and pedestrians making their way along Beaufort’s Boundary Street will soon be treated to a better view of Battery Creek and the surrounding marshland.

But those views come with a price tag of about $144,000.

That’s the cost associated replacing portions of the recently installed boardwalk. That structure included safety fencing built using wide wooden slats.

Those slats — which went up in January and are currently being replaced with steel cables — blocked views and aroused the ire of some local residents and government officials.

The wooden design of the boardwalk fence “looked good on paper, but in the real world it didn’t look so good,” Beaufort city project manager Neal Pugliese said Thursday.

Mayor Billy Keyserling wrote in a newsletter earlier this year that he was aghast at the fence and called its construction a mistake.

The materials “create a barrier to the intended view shed we planned,” he wrote after the fencing went up.

Beaufort County Councilman Brian Flewelling joked at a recent Public Facilities Committee meeting that he was “one of the people (who) complained about this.”

The boardwalk installation, which includes the construction of three separate spans near Beaufort Town Center, is part of the massive Boundary Street overhaul that is being overseen by both the city and Beaufort County.

Beaufort County Council authorized a change order last month, giving contractors the go-ahead to replace the existing wooden boardwalk and use steel cabling for fencing on the other two portions.

The wooden boardwalk “was designed appropriately; it was installed appropriately,” deputy county administrator Josh Gruber told council members before the change order was issued. “It’s just not the most aesthetically pleasing option that’s out there.”

While the new design will open up views of the water, “the downside is the steel cabling and its installation is quite expensive,” he said.

It’s also quite complicated to install.

“It’s not like hanging up a picture in your house,” Pugliese said.

The three boardwalks will require a total of about 2.75 miles of cable which must be installed not only to look good, but also to maximize safety and durability, he said.

“Because of the importance to the community, we want to make sure this is done right rather than done right now,” Pugliese said.

He would not speculate on when exactly the replaced boardwalk will be complete and accessible for pedestrians, but said he expects “significant completion” of all three spans within two to three months.

Pugliese said the plan is open each individual boardwalk span as soon as it completed and inspected, rather than waiting to open all three at the same time.

The Boundary Street project, a $33-million facelift along one of Beaufort’s busiest corridors, began in January 2016 and is expected to wrap up early next year.

Despite the need to backtrack and rebuild the boardwalk, Pugliese said he is “confident that we will operate well within the constraints of the project budget and timeline.”

The cost of retrofitting the boardwalk is being paid for with contingency funds already built into the overall project budget. Funding comes from a variety of sources, including federal grants, county sales tax revenue, and impact fees.

In addition to the boardwalks, crews are currently working on several other aspects of the project.

Traffic was rerouted at some business entrances this week so contractors could dig a trench to house underground communications and power lines.

“We are in the middle of one of the most complex parts of this entire project,” Pugliese said. “We know its going to be disruptive, but we are doing our best minimize the impact.”

“But we need drivers to please be patient, slow down, and be cautious” of crews working in the area, he said.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Take two: New Boundary Street boardwalk being rebuilt to improve views."