Barbados TravelAdvisor

Just read this on the Nation News site

Boardwalk nearly ready
Published on: 10/1/08.


by WENDY BURKE




THE ROCKLEY TO SIERRA Waterfront Improvement Project is nearing the end.

Project officials are reporting that the $18.4 million facelift, which began in June 2007, is about 85 per cent completed.

The project is to help combat coastal erosion and the coastal flooding which takes place almost every hurricane season and affects hotels and businesses which run along the seaside from Accra Beach in the east to St Matthias, Christ Church.

Acting Project manager and coastal engineer with the Coastal Zone Management Unit, Antonio Rowe, took the DAILY NATION team on a tour of the 1.6 kilometre long boardwalk.

It is comprised of five headlands – four of which are concrete, the other made up of granite rocks – to assist with the wave action. The action will prevent too much sand from being removed and stop the waves from coming too close inland.

"In terms of all the major construction, though, that is about 90 per cent [completed].

"The piles, concrete headlands that are to the front of this job, concrete steps, concrete revetments – we have pretty much completed most of those.

"The reason I would tell you that it is overall 85 per cent complete is that we still have a bit of landscaping and tidying up to do. The final project and how it would look in terms of the vegetation and so on has to be done," said Rowe.

He explained that the headlands were usually formed naturally but they had to build some to deal with the problems occurring.

"These are the structures that keep the sand in place because the beach naturally doesn't have any sand, if you put sand on it, it will move, so these are anchoring the sand placement," he said.

Headland One begins just behind Mapau Restaurant and the others span all the way to Accra Beach.

Some of the beach had to be reclaimed to protect the area.

"What we are going to do here is to bring in 14 000 cubic metres of sand in total to be placed in between each headland structure, and between every one of these we are going to place a beach.

"This is how we measure the area; we don't measure the actual space because between high and low tide – it changes. What we will do ultimately is, after a year of monitoring and the beach becomes stable, then we will measure to see how much it is, because the sea will begin to grade it."

Rowe said the boardwalk's decoration would be a sight to behold since they have used some of the finest Brazilian wood to create the benches.

He added that what the boardwalk did was to link beaches that were not connected before, thus giving more businesses access to a seaside view.

"Accra Beach is now linked to Coconut Court so, in effect, you can actually come onto Rockley when it is finished and get all the way down to Hilton just walking or running, and if the walk is too long there are seating areas on the headlands where you can actually stop and take a rest."

However, the official added there were some people a little too eager to test the boardwalk and they broke the safety barrier to get a look.

Rowe is cautioning against this and asking the public to please let the project be completed since it was enjoying a high-level safety record.

"Accra Beach is now linked to Coconut Court so, in effect, you can actually come onto Rockley when it is finished and get all the way down to Hilton just walking or running, and if the walk is too long there are seating areas on the headlands where you can actually stop and take a rest."

That would be awesome! Thanks for the article uktripfan.

Sounds great. Thanks Emma.

"He explained that the headlands were usually formed naturally but they had to build some to deal with the problems occurring." eh? sounds like it is going to change the landscaping totally to me. I thought a boardwalk was just that, a sort of promenade to walk along.
""These are the structures that keep the sand in place because the beach naturally doesn't have any sand, if you put sand on it, it will move, so these are anchoring the sand placement," he said." what's that about? no natural sand ...

I don't really understand it, I am going to have a nosy in November. I am wondering what they have done at the end of Worthing beach as you could only often walk around to Sandy Bay when the tide was low and then you had to wade, will be interesting to see.

Thanks for that Emma, I think it would be great being able to have a nice walk all along there instead of on the "pavements" I wish you could walk along the beach from Worthing to the Gap without having to go in the sea and clamber over the rocks, not a pretty sight I do love going in the sea for a swim but it would be nice to walk further along the beach without an endurance test and my sarong wrapped round my neck

The beaches along that part of the coast have been shrinking,quite noticeably in the last few years.I can remember when there was a long avenue of palm trees outside Crystal waters down to the sea.While in the short term the piles of rocks along the beach ,I feel are unsightly ,they are very necessary.Forestred,you have been waling too close to the shore when going from worthing to the Gap,at low tide you will avoid the rocks,though at high tide you will be swimming

We were there the first two weeks of September and there were still gaps in the boardwalk to be completed. They were just starting on the section at Rockley so that will be a while to complete. Once finished it will be nice to be able to walk along the sea instead of dodging traffic on my morning walks.

Yes that would be nice walking by the sea wouldn't it. Will check it out in November.

For the life of me, I cannot understand how a reporter could say that this project is nearly ready. I had dinner at Ship Inn one night last week and stopped by the KFC in Hastings just to get a look at what was going on. Granted it was late at night but what I saw behind KFC did not look like any work at all went on there since May when I saw it last. Don't plan on walking this area any time before this time next year or later.

In July it was nowhere near being finished-it looked not much different to the previous November!

I was very impressed initially when i read this piece as I thought they must have been working their socks off but it appears not to be the case, which is a shame. Would love to take a wander down it, but when that will be who knows.

Thanks for the information KNRX, it's a bit disappointing though

Oh dear, that is a shame, makes you wonder why they write such rubbish then doesn't it?!! I must say when we were there in May we didn't see much to say it would be ready any time soon. but thought they must have had a really good splurge on it, obviously not so!!! Emma

Does this mean we can walk from the Blue Orchid to the Gap on the beach?

Thanks,

Sam

Hi Sir Spamalot.
Not sure about the boardwalk.But we have always walked along the beach to the gap anyway..Well almost you just need to cut up through a lane when the beach runs out..Then your almost at the gap ...