Services
Custom Design, Fabrication, and Assembly
Client
City of Grand Haven
Completed Date
July 29th, 2019
Location
Grand Haven, MI
Preserving History and Symbolism: Grand Haven Pier's Catwalk Recreated with Precision
Rebuilding the iconic catwalk that has graced the Grand Haven South Pier for decades presented our Shop with a monumental challenge. The team undertook their most extensive project to date, meticulously recreating 53 of the catwalk's 59 bents, the intricate metal framework running along the pier.
Thousands of engineering hours and at least 100 hours of painstaking welding were poured into each bent. The catwalk's resurrection became an artistic and engineering masterpiece, with the project plan undergoing numerous revisions.
Project Goals
The initiative to rebuild the pier came from the community as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers didn't include the catwalk in their restoration project. A symbol of Grand Haven's identity, the old catwalk was showing its age and needed replacement. The community united to raise over a million dollars, with around $500,000 allocated for crafting the new bents.
- Plan and design an identical replacement for 53 of 57 of the piers' catwalk bents
- Fabricate each individual piece of the bent assemblies (inluding over 11,000 cosmetic unique rivets specifically designed and machined for this project)
- Load and Transport all of the recreated bents from our shop in Greenville, MI to Grand Haven
- Load the bents onto a barge to be floated out onto Lake Michigan for easier access to the pier itself
- Move and install the replacement bents for the updated catwalk
Final Outcome of This Project
The catwalk installation began earlier this month, with a meticulous approach not just to engineering but also to preserving the pier's history, right down to the ornamental buttons holding the old catwalk together. Our team replicated these rivets meticulously, making 11,000 custom buttons specifically for this project, ensuring historical accuracy.
We are so proud of our team, from the engineers to welders and fabricators, it was an honor to be a part of helping maintain something as historic as the Grand Haven Pier and it's one of the most rewarding projects we've undertaken. The new catwalk was completed in time for the Coast Guard Festival at the end of July, ensuring that the symbol of Grand Haven continues to shine.