Avon-By-The-Sea is a town with a population of 1,913. This small town, although barren in the winter, is a destination for many families come the summer months. Nearly 40,000 vacationers flock to the less than one mile long beach from May to September. These beachgoers, each paying an average of eight dollars to get onto the beach, create the primary revenue for the town. This revenue was greatly threatened on October 29th of 2012, when superstorm Sandy made landfall. The wind gusts of over 100mph and storm surges ripped the boards from the supports, devastating the boardwalk. This devastation however, leads to opportunity for improvement. The ruined coastal communities are blank canvases open for better designs for walkways.
The residents of Avon are the people involved in this situation. In addition to the residents, the tourists are also a large group involved. Avon draws crowds of thousands of beachgoers every year, the pedestrian traffic in a single weekend potentially surpasses the total population of the town. These crowds are whom our design most directly affects. Although the primary target group is the tourists, the locals are heavily considered. The residents of Avon use the walkway all year, and for them holds a more sentimental value.
The walkway is essential to the town of Avon. Without the walkway, the town of Avon and the affiliated stakeholders lose out on both jobs and income. These stakeholders include the department of public works, the association of lifeguards, and private business that lease space on the walkway for businesses. This destruction, however, is an opportunity for improvement. Similar destruction can be prevented from occurring again in the future if this opportunity is taken advantage of.. To assure this, storm damage preventative features are considered in the reconstruction. In addition, green technologies can be applied to the design, creating a self sustaining community.
Although new ideas are a majority of the replacement walkway’s design, the design should evoke the same mood as the predecessor. The intended mood for the design is hard and sturdy, giving light that the design will withstand the next major storm. The design will be made to last through storms and weathering from the coastal environment. This mood, although industrial, will also be beachy and welcoming, seeing as the walkway and accompanying Avon beach are the main attraction for the summer crowds.
Similar reconstruction is prevalent throughout the coastlines of New Jersey and New York from Hurricane Sandy. Belmar, Point Pleasant, Manasquan and many more communities face the same devastation as Avon does. Some communities fared better than others. These communities designs will be considered and modeled during reconstruction. For example, the concrete pilings in Spring Lake. Although the design strays from the typical wood pilings used in walkway the 90 year old concrete pilings stood strong through the storm.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, all that remains in Avon is the splintered wood piling system. Despite the great devastation the storm caused, the shoreline is now a blank canvas open for improvement. The walkway can be rebuilt better to stand strong for many years. The new system must be reliable for the stakeholders that depend on this iconic structure to draw in the summertime crowds.
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