Port Dalhousie Piers in St Catharines partially closed as benches added

If access to the Port Dalhousie Piers is limited over the next two days, there’s a good reason behind it.

When the two piers were rehabilitated last Spring, all the benches were removed and have yet to be replaced – until now.

Today (April 1) and tomorrow, crews will be out to install concrete benches, replacing memorial benches that were relocated to other City spaces during the rehabilitation of both the west and east piers.

While the older relocated benches were mostly wood, they didn’t weather well on Lake Ontario and so the city is going with the concrete benches this time.

While the city is expected the work to be completed by tomorrow, they have made allowances, noting, “The work is highly dependent on weather and as such, the work may take place across the week ahead.”

However, parts of the piers may be blocked off “at certain periods to allow for the use of heavy machinery.”

Each pier is getting 12 benches being installed “at various locations, with designs reflecting input from the City’s Accessibility Advisory Committee.”

Further work is included in the City’s 2022 budget to replace cleats, bumpers/fenders and electrical connection pedestals that were removed as part of the rehabilitation of the piers that concluded last year.