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Seawall Extension
Existing Seawall 2009.Planning Started: January 2009
Construction Started: Not Started
Completed: Not Completed
Proposed Seawall Extension off Whakarire Road
Napier City Council is planning to rebuild and extend the existing rock bund seawall on the Westshore side of Whakarire Avenue to better protect the erosion-prone shoreline and property along the coastal strip.
A resource consent application and an environmental impact report will soon be lodged with the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.
The 1931 earthquake wrenched up the shoreline at Westshore and over the next three decades there were frequent periods when the beach was sandy. From the mid-1960s onwards, however, the benefits of the uplift diminished and erosion became a problem for Westshore Beach.
A renourishment programme got underway in 1987. A wall of gravel and sand is maintained along the beachfront and although, as anticipated, material is carried off by storms and wave action, the shoreline itself has held.
As a further coastal defence measure, the existing seawall was constructed in 1994. Built in concrete rubble, it was dressed with limestone rock armour in 1997, mainly on the leeward side.
However, it is now considered not robust enough as a long-term structure to protect Whakarire Avenue. As it is, it funnels waves into the southern end of Westshore Beach, causing northward and seaward movement of sediment and renourishment material placed there.
The proposed new structure would follow the line of the existing breakwater for about 80 metres and then form an H-shape about 155 metres long. It is considered this design would have the least impact on the surf break generated when conditions are favourable on the Rangatira Reef.
The breakwater would be heightened and widened to allow for foot access. As part of this project, the Council is looking at creating a new beach and filling in the ponding area that currently forms behind the existing breakwater with sand.
Seawall Extension Images
Existing Seawall 2009....
Existing Seawall 2009....
Existing Seawall 2009....
