In 2004 two hurricanes ripped apart the Lake Worth pier. It has taken almost 5 years to replace it. Finally Saturday it opened to a large number of very appreciative anglers plus those of us who just wanted to stroll the length of the pier and enjoy the view. The grand opening ceremony was at 10 on Saturday morning and all day access was granted free of charge plus free T-shirts. The normal fee is $1 for site seers and $3.00 for those who want to fish from the pier.
The new pier extends 960 feet into the ocean and the eastern part of the pier was built 5 feet higher than the original one to reduce damage that could be caused by storms. The higher elevation increased the cost of the reconstruction a cool million which delayed the finish of the project while the city and state were trying to convince FEMA to cough up more dough. The cost to rebuild the pier was $3.4 million with FEMA paying 90% and the city and state each paid 5%.
Of course not everyone was on the pier as you can see from this shot. The water was beautiful and too tempting for most.
