Part of the Cape Henlopen State Park fishing pier will remain closed until structural repairs can be made.
DNREC says the last 145 feet of the 1,300-foot pier which has been closed since November will stay closed indefinitely.
It was closed for an annual engineering review, which included a detailed evaluation of the entire structure.
Brooks Cahall is environmental program administrator of the Planning, Preservation and Development section of the Division of Parks and Recreation. He explains why it will be closed indefinitely.
"Repairs to the pier are in the neighborhood of a million dollars which we don't have at this time. So we're really looking at what our funding options are and those sorts of things," said Cahall.
Once funding is available work is expected to take three to six months.
Cahall says any repairs done will not be a permanent fix.
"This will continue to buy us time,” said Cahall. “The reality is that this pier was built in the '40s, so it's now 80 years old plus, and then it's wood and wood deteriorates over time, even treated wood. So that deterioration is going to continue to happen and more and more things are going to pop up."
Cahall notes DNREC is already looking at permitting to be ready to start construction as soon as possible when the funding is there.
