Damage to sea wall threatens Rush Pavilion at Columbian Park

Construction crews found structural damage lurking below the murky surface of the Columbian Park lagoon.

The memorial island reconstruction project.

News 18's joe paul is live this afternoon at columbian park.

He joins us now to share more on the situation, joe?

When construction crews drained the columbian park lagoon... they found a variety of things that had been lurking below the murky surface.

Bicycles, benches, shoes and toys.

But they also discovered some unforeseen structural damage.

These huge, horizontal cracks were found on the sea wall beneath rush pavilion.

Architects and engineers say water penetrated the cracks and eroded the ground underneath the porch.

Parks superintendent claudine (clah-deen) laufman (lahf-men) calls the setback a blessing in disguise.

That's because the pavilion could have been further damaged without immediate repairs.

I think we were really lucky that we drained the lagoon and were actually able to visualize the entire surrounding area including that sea wall in front of rush pavilion, so we were able to hire architects and engineers to evaluate that.

Laufman says crews will pump in a grout material to harden and stabilize the existing wall.

They'll also pour a new sea wall to prevent further water erosion.

The repair will add 44- thousand-dollars to the project cost.

That brings the total cost to more than six- and-a-half million dollars.

Laufman says the memorial island project is on track to be completed this summer.

Reporting live in lafayette, joe paul, news 18.

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