Scope of Project
During the summers of 2013 and 2014 Hughes & Associates was contracted by Western Marine Construction out of Seattle Washington to provide bathymetric multibeam surveys of the Sitka Breakwater construction project. The Sitka breakwaters consisted of three separate breakwaters that provided protection to the harbors and waterfront of Sitka from waters to the north. The northing most breakwater is 450 feet long and runs northeast to southwest. This section of breakwater was not included in the project. The second breakwater starts just over 400 feet southwest of the northernmost breakwater and runs 650 feet to the southwest before turning sharply to the south and running an additional 650 feet. The third breakwater was offset to the east by 225 feet and ran nearly directly south for 325 feet. The project consisted of two phases of connecting two of the existing breakwaters and extending both ends. The first phase was performed in 2013 and required connecting the 300 feet between the second or middle breakwater and the southernmost breakwater. In 2014 the second phase of the project consisted of extending both the northern and southern ends of the recently joined breakwaters to facilitate further wave reduction within the city’s harbors and waterfront. Preconstruction, interim, and post construction surveys were provided for both phases of construction. All surveys were performed with a multibeam echosounder mounted to a contractor provided vessel of opportunity with Hughes & Associates custom mobile sonar mount.
Harbors (City Website)
The City and Borough of Sitka Harbor Department operates and maintains 5 boat harbors to include Crescent Harbor, Sealing Cove Harbor, ANB Harbor, Thomsen Harbor and Eliason Harbor. A tidal grid, gear work float and a drive down load/unload zone are all available for individual use. The moorage area at the Port Facility (City Wall) that can handle up to a 300’ vessel and a hoist with a maximum limit of 1,500 lbs is available to the public. Sitka harbors provide moorage for up to 1,350 commercial fishing, recreation, and charter vessels. During the summer numerous Sitka is a popular port of call for many large yachts and utilized all of the facilities the harbors have to offer.