Portage Lakefront Park: Riverwalk and Fishing Pier
The Portage
Lakefront Park is a new park located on a former industrial site at the
northwest corner of the mouth of Burns Waterway. Located within the Indiana
Dunes National Lakeshore, the city of Portage and the National Park Service
cooperated to create a new public access to this area previously not
available. Part of this park's unique facilities are the fishing pier and riverwalk.
Thatcher
Foundations, Incorporated, as a subcontractor to Gough, Inc., installed the
piling and frame work for the fishing pier and riverwalk. This work
required working with our crane barge and floating equipment to drive the
pipe piles and install the deck framing along the west bank of the Burns
Waterway. This project had to be constructed with full consideration of the
sensitive environment of the Indiana Dunes Lakeshore. This required
cooperation with the various agencies, including the DNR, the National Park
Service, and local governments.
In an effort to
complete this project and achieve high standards for "Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED)", Thatcher provided value alternates by
using "reused"/recycled pipe for the piling. The installation was completed
in a challenging marine environment without accident or injury, even with
the record rains and flooding that wreaked havoc on the waterway and
marinas.
The successful completion of this project required cooperative
solutions, changing some aspects of the original scope. The final product
exhibits a high level of craftsmanship especially difficult with pile
driving over water, making this unique in its application and appearance.
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