U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awards major maintenance contract for North Jetty

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 11, 2026

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials have awarded a $30 million contract to Astoria, Oregon-based Big River Construction to conduct major maintenance on the North Jetty at the entrance of Grays Harbor near Ocean Shores. Trade West Construction, S.E.A. Construction and Quigg Bros. also submitted bids.

The major maintenance project will address sections of North Jetty that have sustained the most damage over time, including areas where wave overtopping has reduced the crest width and height. Meanwhile, Damon Point has been closed for more than a year due to dangerous conditions, and the nearby Quinault RV Park and Marina have been closed indefinitely since last May due to storm damage.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed construction of the North Jetty, a three mile-long berm of boulders jutting into the Pacific, in 1916.

According to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers press release, repairs will extend from the jetty head to the tail, ensuring the highest level of reliability for the safe and efficient operation of the federal navigation channel. The federal navigation channel is a critical component for commerce in the region. The repair of the North Jetty is a vital investment in the economic health of the community.

The project directly supports Grays Harbor by protecting the federal navigation channel and ensuring it remains open and safe for large vessels, which handle millions of tons of cargo annually through the Port of Grays Harbor.

“We are excited to see this important maintenance project move forward as the North Jetty plays a critical role in protecting the Grays Harbor Navigation Channel,” said Port of Grays Harbor Executive Director Leonard Barnes. “Tons of cargo, millions of dollars of private investment and hundreds of jobs rely on the safe transit of vessels in and out of Grays Harbor and we applaud our partners at the Corps for moving this project forward.”

Bryan Gottlieb of Engineering News-Record wrote that “Engineering work will focus on replacing displaced armor stone in the most affected areas. Contract specifications call for placing large quarry stone armor and rebuilding sections of the jetty crest profile using land-based heavy equipment positioned along the structure.”

That stone will be transported to the work site along Ocean Shores Boulevard with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers paying for any damage caused by the transport trucks.

Ocean Shores City Administrator Scott Andersen said that now that the construction contract has been awarded, wheels will be set in motion to get the project done.

“Once the contractor has the paperwork on board and an official notice to proceed has been given, we’re going to set up some internal meetings, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Port [of Grays Harbor] will come down here for a town hall, almost certain to be at the Ocean Shores Convention Center, and walk everyone through the process, the timeline, what they’re going to do, how they’re going to stage this and how they’re going to build it,” he said.

Andersen added that this project is years in the making and that the city is looking forward to getting the work done.

“We absolutely need it done, if you’ve been out to the jetty you can see that there are chunks of it under water now. It will help with our erosion issues,” Andersen said. “What we’d really love to see is the remnant jetty also rebuilt as part of that process. That would help us save a lot of land down there. That right now is not on their radar, they view this as a navigation channel issue and that’s why the Port is playing such a big role in their decision-making on this. We were hoping this would happen two years ago, it’s been delayed like a lot of federal projects, but we’re glad it’s finally getting done.”

A year ago the city of Ocean Shores constructed a cobble berm along the north shore of Oyhut Bay to help combat erosion issues, and over the course of the past year the city has entered into relationships with the city of Westport and Grays Harbor County and brought in consultant Scott Boettcher to apply for grants and seek funding for erosion mitigation and coastal resilience. Boettcher recently spearheaded the creation of the Ocean City Drainage District, which aims to alleviate flooding along state Route 109 just north of Hogans Corner outside Ocean Shores.

“We really need a healthy discussion around what is resiliency. What is resiliency for Ocean Shores, for Westport, for unincorporated county on the coastline. … We need multiple rounds of funding, we really do,” Boettcher said last July.

However, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) termination of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program (BRIC) and several legal attempts to release funding for the BRIC grant program, including a cooperating technical partners grant, among other Grays Harbor infrastructure projects, has left the stakeholders in a holding pattern for the better part of the last year.

With the North Jetty project finally getting underway, perhaps the region will begin to reap the benefits of a rejuvenated shoreline and enhanced stability of the entrance to Grays Harbor.