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Cocoa Beach boat ramp closed for a month

R. Norman Moody
FLORIDA TODAY
Starting Monday, the boat ramp at Ramp Road Park in Cocoa Beach will be closed for approximately a month for repairs. A company is replacing the aging ramp at the south end of the park. This does not affect the kayakers that use the park.

COCOA BEACH - If your boat is anything bigger than a kayak or a canoe, launching from Ramp Road Park will be off limits to you for at least a month.

Barricades went up today and workers began moving in equipment to start replacing the aging ramp.

A smaller ramp on the north end of the parking lot used for canoes and kayaks will not be affected.

"The south ramp will be inaccessible for about a month," said Wayne Carragino, the city's manager for the project. "You can launch a row boat or a kayak."

The boat ramp, at the end of Ramp Road, is popular with boaters exploring the Thousand Island area of Cocoa Beach.

Continued below

Wayne Carragino, GIS manager for the city of Cocoa Beach, stands by the boat ramp. Starting Monday, the boat ramp at Ramp Road Park in Cocoa Beach will be closed for approximately a month for repairs. A company is replacing the aging ramp at the south end of the park. This does not affect the kayakers that use the park.

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The existing ramp is deteriorated, with cracked and broken concrete and has long needed replacing, say city officials.

Carragino said the ramp will be replaced by a precast system that is laid in the water then pulled together to lock into place with cables.

The alternative to the precast panels would be to drive metal panels in the water to make a barrier that would enclose the work area. A pump would be used to keep out the water while the concrete is poured and allowed to dry. Carragino said that system would take more construction time.

The cost for the new ramp, which is expected to be completed March 4, is about $110,000.

"It's cheaper, it's less construction time and it has less impact on the environment," he said. "The strength of the concrete is about twice what it normally would be."

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The panels have PVC sleeves to allow for cables that pull the concrete panels together once they are laid in the water. A concrete panel at the end of the ramp will go into the river floor to anchor the ramp. A concrete stop will help to prevent trailers from going beyond the end of the ramp.

"The shear mass of this thing is what holds it in place," he said.

Contact Moody at 321-242-3651 or nmoody@floridatoday.com Follow on Twitter @RNormanMoody or facebook.com/norman.moody.79