LEGISLATURE STUFF - Divers Bulkheads Pilings, Oh Boy

CATSKILL - Much of what is being done at Catskill Point will remain unseen  as crews from C.D. Perry & Sons do underwater work to save the historic site from further eroding and falling into the Hudson River.

A tight deadline of early May is expected to be met by the company after the Greene County Legislature, this past winter, bit the financial bullet, committing $1.1 million for the restoration project.

It took two years of planning and futile attempts at accessing grant funding to reach this stage, undertaking what became necessary with the survival threatened of the venerable Freight Masters Building and a warehouse.

Strong downstream currents and up-river tidal pressures have taken their toll on the river banks, calling upon engineers to install a sheet pile bulkhead, geo-pile tie backs, mega-tons of riprap and stone fill.

Minor repairs have been made over the years but destabilization has  steadily worsened, persistently devouring more shoreline.

Efforts further entail refinishing a wooden dock, replacing old timber pylons, repairing or replacing decorative railing and gates and, when all is finished, re-smoothing adjacent asphalt.

“The damage goes deep down into the river. We’ve sent divers down and determined this absolutely had to be done,” legislature chairman Patrick Linger said, prior to the hiring of C.D. Perry & Sons.

Seeing this day coming, county leaders, in 2021, tried to get money from FEMA, coming up empty, reaching into county coffers for the cash.

In the summer of 2022, county officials established a Capital Project for the job, hiring Barton & Loguidice Engineering to prepare the requisite specifications, drawings and other bidding and contract papers.

Bids went out in December, 2023, and Barton & Loguidice, in mid-January, 2024, reviewed five submittals ranging from the low base bid filed by C.D. Perry to a high of $1,394,400, according to legislature documents.

Most of the work is being executed from barges, using a large crane to ram 35-foot long sheet pilings into the shoreline with a “low vibration piece of equipment to protect the buildings,” project manager Jared Hinkel says.

Divers have been called into action for repairs on the landing dock, keeping a close eye on rising and dropping waters while employing hydraulic chain saws and other equipment.

“We have to make sure the work is done within the correct timeframe to make sure the tide is favored,” Hinkel said, dealing with fluctuations of between four to six feet every day.

C.D. Perry, based in Troy, has been in marine construction and reparation since 1936, “getting our feet wet in the canal systems,” Hinkel says.

Cutler D. Perry started the company as a road building and site work outfit, their website states. Over the years, C.D. Perry's services grew to include work on some of New York State's most challenging waterways.

Those efforts included redevelopment of the Erie and Champlain canals, their website states. By the 1970s, C.D. Perry had become one of the premier heavy civil and marine general contractors in the State.