The Breuner Marsh Restoration and Public Access Project will restore wetlands and coastline prairie, protect the endangered California clapper rail (which has recently been seen nesting) and saltmarsh harvest mouse, as well as provide public access to the San Francisco Bay shoreline.
The Breuner Marsh Restoration and Public Access Project will restore approximately 60 acres of wetlands in the 150-acre Breuner Marsh area located in the City of Richmond. Photo courtesy of The Dutra Group
By BC Staff
Published: October, 2016
The Breuner Marsh Restoration and Public Access Project will restore wetlands and coastline prairie, protect the endangered California clapper rail (which has recently been seen nesting) and saltmarsh harvest mouse, as well as provide public access to the San Francisco Bay shoreline.
The project will restore approximately 60 acres of wetlands in the 150-acre Breuner Marsh area located in the City of Richmond, creating a self-sustaining wetland complex that will filter polluted runoff and support native plant and animal species. The project is one of the East Bay Regional Park District’s first constructions that will withstand the effects of rising sea levels through the end of the century.
This final portion of the overall project involves installing approximately 1,300 feet of concrete pile-supported concrete bridge that will form part of the San Francisco Bay Trail. The raised walkway is intended to allow free movement of the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse, whose habitat is limited to the marshlands around the Bay. The bridges consist of 86 driven concrete piles, precast concrete bent caps and precast concrete decking. The structures are tied together with interlaced reinforcing steel and small sections of cast-in-place closure concrete.
Along with the raised bridges there is dyke construction, path grading and planting involved in completing the trail between the bridges to either end of the project. The San Rafael based Dutra Group was awarded the project in May 2016, and the project will be completed by February 2017. The project is funded by a broad number of public and private organizations, and carries a price tag of $4.3 million.
A majority of the work must be completed between September 1 and October 15 to avoid interfering with the endangered clapper rail’s life cycle activities in the area. During this period, all work below elevation 7.5 (basically, all wetland work) must be completed, which is a challenging schedule. Along with this restriction are noise and local ordinances that preclude night and weekend work, meaning that the work has to be planned and executed with a high degree of efficiency, all while working safely and cleanly in this highly sensitive area.
Dutra is working closely with East Bay Regional Park District, Ghirardelli (the construction manager) and WRA (the biological monitoring consultant) to ensure that the job is built correctly and with minimum impact to the environment. All Dutra personnel are trained in and take the requirements and restrictions involved in working in this environment very seriously.
The Breuner Marsh project is one of the East Bay Regional Park District’s first constructions that will withstand the effects of rising sea levels through the end of the century. It also involves installing approximately 1,300 feet of concrete pile-supported concrete bridge that will form part of the San Francisco Bay Trail. Photos courtesy of The Dutra Group
