HAMBURG, NY - Funding has finally been secured to build a sea wall in Lake Erie, near Athol Springs in Hamburg.
This is an area that's been prone to flooding and wave damage during strong storms...especially in winter, when strong winds push waves and spray onto the surface of NYS Route 5, coating it with ice and resulting in shutdowns.
It’s also a busy traffic route, where some 40,000 vehicles travel on an average day according to the office of U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer which secured $4 million in funding to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction in 2019.
“I think it’s worth the money,” said Hamburg Town Supervisor Jim Shaw. “The fact of the matter is, this has been a hazard for Hamburg residents and people traveling Route 5 for decades."
The solution is hoped to be a break wall, comprised primarily of large boulders, stretching southward from the edge of Hoak’s Restaurant, across a cove, about 300 yards long.
“The idea is to kill the force of the waves some 40 feet or so before they reach the shoreline," Shaw said, noting that it would also protect the existing sea wall that abuts Route 5 from possibly collapsing under further damage.
“I'm not an engineer but the Army Corps of Engineers has been working on this for years, and they claim it'll work. I certainly hope so,” Shaw said.