Dock at Agate Beach State Park to be removed late this month

A crew from Ballard Diving and Salvage of Vancouver, Wash., will begin removing the derelict dock at Oregon's Agate Beach starting the morning of Tuesday, July 31. The beach near Newport will remain open during the work except for a closed safety zone around the dock demolition site. The project will take three to seven days to complete.

The 66 by 19 foot dock washed ashore June 5 and is believed to weigh 130-165 tons. It originated from the Japanese port city of Misawa and was carried out to sea during the March 2011 tsunami.

Ballard was awarded a contract for $84,155 to complete the work. The company plans to cut the dock into several large pieces, place them on a heavy-haul truck at the main Agate Beach access road and transport them to a Portland-area facility for final demolition and recycling. Portions of the beach may be temporarily closed during the removal.

Residents and visitors can expect congestion in and around Agate Beach State Park, Highway 101 and NW Oceanview Drive, during the project. The main Agate Beach parking lot will be open, but the smaller, roadside parking area will be closed for the duration of the work starting Monday, July 30.

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is responsible for maintaining the beach in as natural a state as possible. When boats and structures wash ashore -- and they do every year -- they are removed. Park staff and thousands of volunteers also put in tens of thousands of hours of effort to remove smaller pieces of debris to preserve Oregon's beautiful beaches. Individuals or groups interested in volunteering for future beach cleanups can visit http://bit.ly/MvxUI4. A list of upcoming beach cleanups (and other events) is online at http://solv.org/get-involved/volunteer-event.