County to open bids for SGI fishing pier repair in January

Franklin County Commissioners will open bids for repair work on the St. George Island fishing pier in January.

The pier, which is actually a section of the old St. George Island bridge, was damaged in late June during Tropical Storm Debby when it was hit by a barge belonging to the Orion Marine Group, a company that was doing work in the bay for Progress Energy.

The barge knocked out three sections of roadway, leaving a 165 foot gap that makes it impossible for people to access much of the pier.

In October the county commission approved a repair plan designed by the Prebble Rish engineering firm that would replace the missing section of bridge with a 16 foot wide timber pier held up by concrete piles.

The project is expected to cost a little over 600 thousand dollars to complete.

The county will pay for the repairs itself but intends to get Orion Marine to reimburse the costs.

If all goes well, the pier could be open for fishermen by June the 1^st.

On Tuesday county administrator Alan Pierce said the county will be ready to open bids on the project on January the 15^th.

He added that the county also already has the state and federal permits for the job which puts them a little ahead of schedule.

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