MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Martin County is spending $2.3 million to upgrade one of its busiest boat ramps, but boaters are upset over the timing of the project.
Capt. Buddy Kirkhart knows the waters around the Manatee Pocket intimately, and he knows now is the best time to get out to fish.
"Getting ready to ramp up to summertime, which is when everybody is going to want to be out there when it's nice and calm," Kirkhart said Tuesday.
So, he was trying to keep his calm after seeing work underway this week on the hugely-popular boat ramps at Sandsprit Park.
"This is the No. 1 boat ramp in Martin County," Kirkhart said. "What they should have done was fix the west ramp first."
Construction on the 30-year-old boat ramps will be taking place until the fall.
"They're at the end of their life cycle and like all infrastructure, there's an end of life, and it's time for replacement," Martin County Deputy Public Works Director George Dzama said.
New floating docks will be put in place as part of an effort to make them more resilient to climate change.
"Also, the docks do go underwater during king tide events, so we're raising the top of the dock slightly," Dzama said.
This ramp closure comes at a tough time for boaters, who are already facing other navigational challenges.
Work on the St. Lucie River Railroad bridge has that bridge locked down for three weeks.
Martin County officials said they had delayed their floating dock order so the project wouldn't initially overlap with the bridge closure.
"We delayed that until January of this year so the contractor could mobilize, and we would actually start after the other bridge project was supposed to be completed," Dzama said.
Kirkhart said the ramps were long overdue to be replaced, but why couldn't the county start it later in the summer?
"Their timing couldn't be worse," Kirkhart said. "It just could not possibly be worse."
