WKRG.com » News Stream » Environmental »

Sand Island Lighthouse Gets Repairs

By Chad Petri Reporter

Published: Thu, August 07, 2008 - 5:02 am Last Updated: Fri, August 15, 2008 - 12:19 pm

Short URL: http://wkrg.com/a/16662/

Chad Petri

This is probably the first time that cement trucks have been within spitting distance of sand island lighthouse.

“We knew coming it was going to be a challenge and we kind of enjoy that,” says President of Remedial Services Inc. John Cain. He runs the contractor that's repairing the lighthouse. This long awaited project will restore the foundation. Workers run wet cement from the trucks on a barge, to a wooden mold around the bottom. The cement will fill in a metal skeleton inside.

“It'd be very difficult in the 1800's to get it out there so this is the easiest method we knew,” says Cain. It’s a very tricky project. First of all you've got a barge twice the size of Sand Island, and then you've got to get the trucks out here before the cement hardens. It's all an issue of timing

“We've been working on it for two weeks on the [cement] mix design and hopefully today we got it right,” says Cain. The lighthouse was battered by hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. Money for the more than $700,000 dollar restoration project comes from FEMA.

“Certainly for the next 100 years we don't have to pour any concrete for awhile,” says Alabama Lighthouse Association member Jim Hall. Lighthouse enthusiasts say they hope this preserves a piece of mobile's heritage for ages. The foundation is just phase one. Organizers say they have big plans for the old sea sentinel

“Ultimate dream would be to have it open to the public tourist boats taking anyone who chose to go up and they'd pay their couple of bucks and climb the lighthouse,” says Hall. To get to that dream phase, organizers need to raise money to build a new island around the lighthouse. They’re applying for grant money and looking for donations. For more information, click the association link in this story. Contractors say they’ll also do some brick work. They say they’ll be done phase one in September.