The understructure of the new Anna Maria City Pier almost is complete.
Decking for the city pier is next.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy said May 15 that i+iconSOUTHEAST was halfway through installing stringers — vertically set support planks laid the length of the walkway — as well as utility lines for communication, water, gas and electricity.
The contractor also was working on installing concrete bents, caps connecting pairs of pilings with beams to support decking, near the T-end between the easternmost walkway piles and a set of pilings to the east, which will become a boat landing.
Murphy said he expected work on the walkway and boat landing understructure to finish by May 24, but added it could wrap up earlier in the week.
He said i+icon hasn’t run into an issue since pile-driving.
“Everything is going fine,” Murphy said. “We’re still on track to complete the platform portion by the end of August or beginning of September.”
The next step in construction is to install ipe decking on the walkway and, at the same time, a concrete deck on the T-end, according to Murphy.
Murphy said the city received the ipe decking and a portion of the concrete T-end deck, but was awaiting the remainder. He added that the materials will be brought to the Kingfish Boat Ramp in Holmes Beach, where they will be loaded onto a barge.
The city issued a request for proposals to construct the restaurant and bait shop at the T-end, work that will begin after the walkway and T-end is complete.
The city began building a new pier after tearing down the 106-year-old pier in 2018. The structure was in need of repair and then destroyed by Hurricane Irma in September 2017.