The job of replacing the Sandwich Boardwalk starts this week.
General contractor ACK Marina and General Contracting has up to a year to complete the job, and Sandwich Assistant Town Manager Heather Harper tells CAI that while the boardwalk area will remain mostly accessible to visitors, there will be some limits during the work period.
“The boardwalk is accessible from Boardwalk Road to the Mill Creek Bridge just as it was last year. Folks can get out to the marsh get to the bridge, do whatever recreational activities they have in the past and just enjoy time out there,” Harper said.
She added that Town Neck Beach will not be reachable by way of the boardwalk.
“This year there is some impact on the Town Neck Beach side because that is now a construction area and the contractor has taken over about 20 parking spaces.”
During the first week of work, ACK Marine will install construction fencing. In the second week of work the contractor will begin test drilling for new helical piles.
Harper said little of the old boardwalk will remain after the work is complete.
“Except for the area around the Mill Creek Bridge, all the pilings and any of the superstructure, any of the rails that are there will all be replaced.”
The boardwalk has repeatedly sustained damage in storms over the years. Most recently, a storm in the winter of 2022 inflicted severe damage, leading to the decision to replace the structure.
The start of the project was delayed by a lawsuit in which the plaintiffs, Lisa and David Hassler, challenged whether certificates from the Historic District Commission had expired before the town issued a building permit.
But a judge ruled the certificates were not expired and that the structure was not historic because the latest version of the boardwalk only dated to 1992.
The Sandwich town website, sandwichmass.org has complete information about the boardwalk replacement, including site maps.