The ramp was specifically created with first responders in mind, but will now act as a scenic viewing point.<\/p>\n
NORFOLK, Va. \u2014 The City of Norfolk has torn down a beach ramp at Ocean View just months after its completion. Engineers with the city said it was due to extreme erosion, which left the ramp unusable for first responders.<\/p>\n
“We just can’t compete against Mother Nature,” said Tammy Halstead, an assistant engineer with the City of Norfolk.<\/p>\n
First planned in 2022, Halstead said the construction of the ramp cost the city roughly $400,000. The idea was to give first responders easier access to the beach and a path for them to bring necessary equipment in an emergency.<\/p>\n
However, the constant erosion caused more difficulties than anticipated. Halstead said the city decided to demolish the ramp, and instead “repurpose” some of the materials left behind for other projects.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got some repairs going on at Waterside, and there are other access points along the beach that will be starting construction in the next six to eight months,” said Halstead. “What can be preserved will be.”<\/p>\n
After the ramp is completely removed, the city will then remodel the entrance to be a scenic viewing area for the public to enjoy. But some residents of Ocean View told 13News Now they are frustrated that the levels of erosion have come to this.<\/p>\n
“It’s just a big waste of time, but also money,” said one resident. “It seems like whoever designed it, the engineer, didn’t consider everything about it.”<\/p>\n
While there are no immediate plans to rebuild a similar ramp, Halstead said the city will look into possibilities for another sand replenishment project. The last major sand replenishment project was completed back in 2017, and while it is “behind schedule,” Halstead said it is a priority for the city.<\/p>\n
However, in order to do this, Halstead said federal funding will be needed. As the government is currently shut down, Halstead said it is leaving them with few options.<\/p>\n
“Once the freeze is over, hopefully it will be approved and we’ll have funding for them to continue the design,” said Halstead. “Then maybe we could start looking into calendar year 2027.”<\/p>\n
The demolition of the ramp is expected to last until late October.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ramp was specifically created with first responders in mind, but will now act as a scenic viewing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-244713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}