The reconstruction of the Gulf State Park Pier recently reached a major milestone with the partial completion of a walkway up to the octagonal end of the pier.

Lamar Pendergrass, southern region operations supervisor for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) State Parks Division, said all of the missing pilings and decking components have been replaced up to the octagon, giving construction crews much easier access to the entire 1,544-foot pier.

“We can actually get to the Octagon now,” Pendergrass said. “We saw a barge parked at Alabama Point, which means crews can get to the Octagon without using a barge, which is a real plus for us. Some of the girders had to be repaired with grouting to give them more strength and stability. Once we get the deck back in place, we can start working on the railings and things like that, which will speed things up.”

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Chris Blankenship is pleased with recent developments at Gulf State Park.

“There's a ton of work going on at our state parks, especially Gulf State Park,” he said. “It's great to see repairs to the pier progressing well, and it was nice to reopen our 20 Lakeside Cabins last week and expand our services at Romar Beach Access. We're all excited to be able to reopen the pier later this summer. It's going to be fantastic!”

Plumbers were assessing what work was needed to replace and update the mid-section, known as the T, through to the octagon. Electricians were also on site to determine the scope of repairs needed.

“Hopefully the turtle-friendly lights have been ordered because they may be hard to come by,” Pendergrass said. “The plumbing and electrical work should start soon because all of this stuff is under the deck panels.”

The turtle friendly light poles are approximately 10 feet tall. The lights are LED lights with a 6 inch shield that blocks some of the light beam. Dimmers are used during turtle nesting season to further reduce the light output, yet still provide plenty of light for anglers. Turtle friendly lights are also used in parking lots.

As part of the groundwork for the pile replacement, the first task at the pier was to remove pilings from a 200-foot section that succumbed to Hurricane Sally's fierce waves in 2020 and fell into the Gulf of Mexico.

MD Thomas Construction, which had completed a $2.4 million upgrade to the pier just before Sally hit, was awarded the $13.6 million repair contract. Removing the fallen pilings was no easy task.

“We used both regular and jack-up barges to retrieve the piles, which made it much easier to transport them to the job site,” Pendergrass said. “We actually had to go down and blast the sand off the piles, attach straps to them, lift them onto the barge, haul them to the dock, and come up with a way to transport them to their final destination. Once we retrieved the old piles, we started bringing in the new piles on the barge. The new piles were blasted to a depth and then hammered into their final position to align them. There were 18 piles that were misaligned, damaged, or broken.”

ADCNR applied to use the salvaged concrete pieces to build a reef in Alabama's unique artificial reef area, but the request was denied by FEMA.

As always, weather affected the amount of work the barges could do, but Pendergrass said delays were minimal.

“There were a few days when we had to work a half day and then drive the barge back up to Perdido Pass and leave it there,” he said. “It takes time and effort to get it to a location and back. The jack-up barge was out of service for a little over two weeks for repairs. However, once the barge returned, we were able to get the remaining piles in place and they were all completed by April 1.”

Pendergrass said the current plan is to restore the octagon, which was extremely popular with enthusiastic anglers who enjoy fishing off the pier, to its pre-Sally condition. This includes restoring the 50-foot by 24-foot observation deck in the octagon, which will allow visitors and tourists to experience the educational components of the pier from a new perspective as well as observe the fishing activities. An Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-certified elevator will be installed on one side of the observation deck, with stairs on the other side. Pendergrass said the ADA elevator will be operated only by pier personnel.

“At least one thing will change,” he said. “Before, there was a red line around the octagon that separated the fishermen from the tourists. With the observation deck, we'll be able to get a better view of the fishing action.”

Pendergrass, who also oversaw the previous renovation, said he plans to install new railings made from durable ipe wood (pronounced ee-pay) on the octagon as well as the 200 feet of collapsed section.

“We've worked on the octagonal deck addition twice already, so we know what to do,” he said. “Once all of the below-deck work is completed, we expect work to speed up and get the pier open as soon as possible.”

“Unless the weather gets really bad, the expected date for reopening the pier is late summer.”

Commissioners Blankenship and Pendergrass also recently attended the dedication of the Lake Shelby Cabins at Gulf State Park. Hurricane Sally destroyed 17 lakefront cabins. They have been rebuilt and three new cabins have been added, bringing the total to 20.

“Hurricane Sally literally lifted the roofs off some of the cabins and knocked them to the ground,” Pendergrass said. “The 10 lakefront Eagle Cottages sustained much less damage from the hurricane and continued to be rented out with only minor repairs.”

The new cabins are top of the line and feature 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a kids bunk room with a TV for entertainment. Also new are laundry rooms with washers and dryers underneath each cabin. Cabins can be booked online. Eagle Cottage.

“We also renovated four cabins in the woods,” Pendergrass said. “These are one-bedroom cabins. They cost quite a bit of money to renovate.”

Additionally, Gulf State Park's Hugh Branyon Backcountry Trail continues to be the top recreational trail in the nation in the 2024 USA Today 10 Best Readers' Choice Awards, marking the second consecutive year the trail has received this recognition.

The Alabama Gulf Coast Trail beat out nine other trails across the country, including the 78-mile Greenbrier River Trail in West Virginia, a former railroad trail that's now used for hiking, biking and horseback riding, and the 240-mile Katy Bike Trail in Missouri, one of the longest railroad-turned-trail projects in the country.

The Romar Beach Access Area at Gulf State Park has reopened with a new bathhouse, 40 parking spaces and showers along the boardwalk leading to the beach.

Gulf State Park Pavilion will undergo a complete renovation of its facilities, including renovations to the restrooms and bridal room.

Meaher State Park, along Battleship Parkway at the northern end of Mobile Bay, is also in the midst of renovations, with $7.5 million allocated to expanding the campground, building new cabins and an administration building.