GRAND MARAIS -- Grand Marais reached a 12,000 foot milestone Wednesday. After nearly four months of construction, construction crews with Great Lakes Dock & Materials placed the last pieces of rocks in the breakwater. The McLaren Engineering Group helped design the breakwater. The small waterfront community has had a breakwater on their wish list for nearly five decades.
The goal of the structure is to protect the harbor from the rough waters of Lake Superior.
"I'm just so elated to have this project done," said Jack Hubbard, Burt Township Supervisor. "You have no idea how beautiful this pile of rock looks to me and to the community. We, once again, are going to have a safe harbor. I'm just really proud of what we were able to do here."
As Burt Township Supervisor, Hubbard has spent the past fives years leading the fight to obtain funding for the project. The township and the state shelled out over five million dollars on their breakwater. Hubbard says securing the money would not have been possible without help.
"I will never be able to thank this community enough for the way they stood behind me in this fight," Hubbard reflected.
"I think no one really believed it was going to happen until it actually started happening," said Dore Stevens, Burt Township Treasurer. "I think everybody is believing it now and hopefully it will get finished, the rest of it out here."
As the community's project wraps up, work has just begun on a separate breakwater commissioned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The federal government has allocated $1.6 million for the Corps to reconstruct 300 feet of its existing breakwater.
According to the Corps, their project will wrap up by mid-November.
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