Breakwaters ruled among the "worst on the Great Lakes" but Port Washington's getting some help

PORT WASHINGTON (WITI) -- The City of Port Washington has been awarded a $500,000 Recreational Boating Fund Grant  for repair work on the north breakwater.  The grant award was approved at the Wisconsin Waterways Commission meeting in Hayward.

“This represents another important success in our collective efforts to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of the federal breakwaters protecting our City of Port Washington harbor, marina, and lakefront infrastructure,” said Mayor Tom Mlada.  “We are immensely grateful to the Wisconsin Waterways Commission for this significant grant award, and we are excited about the opportunities it provides us to move forward with funding additional future repair work.”

The federal breakwaters in the City of Port Washington were constructed in the early 1930s.

After more than 80 years of impact from intense wave energy and extreme weather cycles, the structures are failing rapidly.

Last year, the aggressive nature of the deterioration led the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to categorize the breakwaters protecting Port Washington as among the “worst on the Great Lakes.”  City, community, and county stakeholders joined with city leadership and elected officials in Washington, D.C. to demand action, and the result was an initial $1,000,000 federal appropriation for repair work.

The USACE is using those funds as part of “Phase One” efforts to stabilize the breakwaters, focusing on placement of armor stone along the lake side of both north and south structures.

Phase One work will be completed later this summer.

“I believe our fund procurement and project leadership efforts will be difference-making in the long-term for our City, allowing us to continue as a vital harbor of refuge and affording critical protection for our lakefront investment, infrastructure, and economic development,” Mlada said.  “The work we are doing today will literally ensure continued Lake Michigan access for recreational fishermen and transient boaters through Port Washington for generations to come.”

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