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Lighthouse work to resume in February
Robert Bargamin photo
Restoration work at the Bodie Island Lighthouse will resume next month, after being delayed for a year because more problems were found and a lack of money to pay for the added repairs.
National Park Service Outer Banks Group Superintendent Mike Murray announced this week that a $1.89 million contract has been awarded for the continued restoration.
According to a news release, the National Park Service Denver Service Center has issued a notice to proceed with the award of contract to the prime contractor, United Builders Group, LLC of New Bern.
The previous restoration project contract was terminated in Spring 2011 after significant new structural integrity issues were found in many of the main support beams under the balcony.
The additional repairs needed were too costly to finish in the original restoration project and therefore work ceased. The contractor demobilized and was off-site by April 20, 2011.
Funding requests have since been approved to complete the restoration work this fiscal year, with an expected completion date of October 2012.
Scaffolding surrounds the Bodie Island Lighthouse in 2010 (Pat Morris photo)
» Restore deteriorated metal
» Restore components on the lantern level (support beams, masonry, railing/ladder)
» Replace galley cornice segments
» Paint interior and exterior masonry
» Replace windows and glass on lantern level
» Repair the Oil house marble floor and roof, install new windows
» Paint all newly installed metals/wood
» Install fire suppression system and rehabilitate electrical power
» Install stair strengtheners
A protective shroud placed around the top of the lighthouse when the original restoration work stopped was torn away by Hurricane Irene in August.
National Park Service Outer Banks Group Deputy Superintendent Darrell Echols said in December that the lantern room is built to handle the elements, and the lighthouse was not being damaged from the exposure.
“There are tracks in the floor designed to moved water out if it gets inside,” Echols said. ”No water is entering the tower whatsoever.”
The priceless Fresnel lens was removed from the lighthouse before renovations began, and it remains in a secure location away from the Bodie Island Light Station.
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beachornot says:
This could only happen in the federal government! We are bankrupt, trillions of dollars in debt and they continue to find new projects to spend money on. Not even important projects like infrastructure, nope they find new ways to spend on pet projects. Does anyone else see the absurdity here?
Native son says:
Half a million just to rescaffold the tower,$1.89mill. isn’t going to be enough to do the job.Water not entering the tower,I got some high marsh that does’nt flood I’d sell ‘em.
ekim says:
Fire suppression in a light house? I bet there aint one local contractor involved.This is a huge wast.
jeff says:
ekim synce bricks are fired to begin with I doubt that there is not any chance that they will burn now! I am sure that all contractors will be brought in from the pet gov contractors from eleswear.
Jimmy Hook says:
this is good news!!!!!! i hope they will get it finished so that they can finally let people climb to the top!!!!
beachornot says:
Unfortunately Jimmy the ticket for the opportunity to climb to the top of an obsolete lighthouse stands at 1.89 million in 2012, on top of the cost of suspended earlier work. I can’t afford the ticket cost and unless your name is Buffet you can’t afford it either.
When we hear about the bridge to nowhere or the cheese museum in the news, we ask what in the hell are they thinking. Citizens across the country look at us and ask the same question.
The nation is bankrupt and we have to stop this idiotic irrational game everyone gets a piece of the pie. The pie is gone, we ate it a long time ago. We simply refuse to believe it.
Unless you are a proponent of the new math, it doesn’t add up any longer and we have to start realizing that or we will be standing around with our hands out to China, just as Greece is doing now.
Jimmy Hook says:
my last name is Hook!!!! and i just really, really, REALLY want to climb to the top, because you can see a really GREAT view from the top of it!!!
beachornot says:
Yeah, I understand what you are saying Jimmy and we are simply stating different opinions.
I always wanted a Jaguar but can’t afford one nor can I afford the upkeep on one, so I do without.
In my opinion, the US can no longer afford government sponsored cheese museums, bridges to nowhere, rehabbed obsolete lighthouses or any of one million other pet projects. At some point we have to simply say we can’t afford it. If we don’t and we have avoided doing so to this point, we will end up like the EU and have austerity forced upon us. The medicine is coming, we just have to determine how we want to take the medicine.
junkman says:
Its good to see that somebody (I’ll call the government “somebody” even though its not been declared a person like corporations have in Citizens United) is trying to preserve our history and heritage. The lighthouses are an integral part of OBX history and culture. If anyone thinks otherwise, then……who needs the Liberty Bell ? Scrap metal prices are up. Real estate developers would love to get hold of the Valley Forge, Yorktown and Gettysburg parks, and make a lot of money Take notice free marketeers !
Native son says:
Like I have said earlier,the Currituck Beach Lighthouse was renovated by a private group,the Outer Banks Conservationists,using grants,local workers and a whole lot less pyscobabble and double speak.The NPS does’nt care about our cultural and historic buildings,just birds,turtles and beach access.When the powers at Headquarters rotate out of area,then maybe their replacement will dedicate more maintenance to our Seashore,if the buildings haven’t fallen in by then.Sad state of affairs .