King County roads workers completed major repairs on Dockton Road last week, affixing 120 anchors to the outside of its wooden seawall to keep it from failing.
The repairs were made after a county inspection in October found that several portions of the seawall were rotting and in need of immediate attention. The work on the road was done at night on weekdays from Nov. 30 to Dec. 9. The section of Dockton Road that hugs Tramp Harbor was closed while the work was being done.
Attaching the steel braces to the face of the seawall is a temporary fix that could secure the road for at least five years, said Rick Brater, section manager of the county roads division’s Engineering Services Section.
“It’s something like a five to 10-year fix,” he said. “It could be longer, but I think that’s a good conservative estimate.”
During their work on the seawall, county work crews documented the condition of the road — information that can be used in developing a longer-term maintenance plan for the deteriorating road and seawall.
The project cost less than $70,000, Brater said, and was paid for by King County. The estimated budget for the project was $80,000.
Dockton Road is in need of a long-term fix in order to remain a viable transportation thoroughfare, but funds to pay for a large-scale Dockton Road project were cut from the 2010 King County budget — a reflection of the challenging fiscal times the county is facing, county officials said last month.