Posted on April 15, 2019
SOMERSET — Because of erosion that has caused damage to them, the stairs in the area of the bluffs that go down to the beach at Pierce Beach Park have been closed.
Town Planner Nancy Durfee said the wooden platform of the stairs caved in because the material under it eroded away.
Durfee said a coastal engineer will evaluate the area and make a recommendation to the town on whether the stairs can remain where they are or need to be removed. They have been in that location since the 1980s. Durfee said yellow caution tape has been put around the area to keep people away from it and said signs will be put up.
“We’re going to repair it as soon as possible,” Durfee said. “We just want to do it in the appropriate way to secure it.”
Durfee said it appears foot traffic wore down a path on the bluffs and caused erosion. She said it does not take a lot to create erosion on the bluffs because it is a sandy dune area. She said when grass is broken and dies and is removed and people walk on the area enough, it creates a gulley, allowing rain to pull sand away, which caused a significant blowout to the stairs closest to the beach.
Durfee said the bluffs have been stabilized with hay bales and wattle that was put over a path where water was flowing to direct the water so there wouldn’t be a fast flow through the eroded area.
Durfee said protection was designed for the area. She said the town does not want people walking on the bluffs themselves, because of the damage that can be caused.
Durfee said that Conservation Agent Timothy Turner, Recreation Director Barry Fontaine, Highway Superintendent Christopher Simons, Highway Department workers and herself inspected the bluffs area where the erosion occurred and secured the site.
Source: heraldnews.com
