JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The city has finished rebuilding the boat ramp and fishing pier off Mandarin Road that was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in October 2016 and it is now reopened to the public.
County Dock, a small park that included water access along the St. Johns River adjacent to Walter Jones Historical Park, sat damaged for more than two years until the Federal Emergency Management Agency released money to the city of Jacksonville to pay for infrastructure damaged by the hurricane. Repairs began last year and are now complete.
The new dock and pier were rebuilt to withstand the effects of a hurricane.
"It was totally destroyed by the hurricanes so without rebuilding it, this facility would have been closed. So it was good to get this back open to the public for the citizens,” said Robert Skalitzky with the city of Jacksonville's Parks and Recreation Department.”
He said the pilings are a little bigger and were buried deeper into the ground. The new dock also includes all new hardware.
“The new construction itself makes it more resilient,” Skalitzky said.
In addition to these repairs, the dock now sits 2 feet higher.
It is approximately 640 feet long. The city says it's the largest fishing pier and dock on the St. Johns River.
"This is extremely important to get the water activation. The public has been interested in this dock. There’s several projects that are in the works to get finished from the hurricanes, so this was one of the priority ones we had,” Skalitzky said.