I read that (GORCC / GORC) The Great Ocean Road Coast Committee are paying for a study into coastal erosion....

Get's me thinking... and this little story kind of applies to the way many councils and individual bodies think these days........;

Ok;
There's always the odd set of old stairs and the odd old boat ramp (on the ocean coast), that get washed away over time....

So lets commission a report into erosion!! Instead of just accepting the reality, and the fact it was old...

I think they should save their money, and accept the fact that these things happen (Sh!t Happens!).

Realistically, they only have 50-70 years of living memory to go by.... and with most coastal structures, you should only plan to get 10-20 years from them anyway....

Occasionally you will here tales of "events" that are bigger than anyone can remember... Isn't that just the 50 year storm / 50 year event, that can happen.

It appears this can be the thinking process at GORC, and perhaps at other councils (??? I'm generalising.. !! );
1) Old Small Boat Ramp in an ocean front area slowly erodes away
2) Let's commission an investigation into coastal erosion
3) Any rebuild plan is put on hold for now....

When the process should just be;
1) Old Boat ramp erodes
2) Have a meeting on site between the GORC, 2 different engineers, a older retired gentleman engineer from the local area, a regular ramp user, and a contractor builder from council's list - and discuss the options, is it OK to rebuild at current location, if so, just "get on with it". Move is back a little maybe, if that results in a better option for the medium term (20 years).

I know it's more involved that that.... But can't people just accept that "erosion events" on the coast are different from year to year.... Even with the proposed / suggested sea level rises, shouldn't we just rebuild as necessary, it will last about 20 years, and if sea levels change later, just rebuild it later to account for that !? Again, slightly simplified approach... But I'm sure most agree with that concept - unless you are a specialist coastal erosion consultant, looking for a job to do ! haha!


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Separately, we were costing a huge rail embankment on a different projects, with glorious mass concrete foundation options.... Up front, I'm telling the team, this design looks like a crock of sh!t. The (Large Multi-national) Engineering Outfit needs to be shot for even letting it get this far.... But 5 minute "bag of fag packet calculations" are telling me it is at least 50% more expensive than a bridge deck through there. We tell the client. Client tells us, no you must price the embankment. 4-5 days later, full detailed embankment price is complete. Our whole team knows it's the wrong answer...

Ground conditions are poor, but we know a few more piles a little longer for the bridge will cover it....

During discussion, one of the guys says, "lets just build a bridge and get over it!".
(Pun intended!).