By JEFF DUTE
Outdoors Editor
While Hurricane Gustav bruised the Gulf State Park Pier under construction just east of Gulf Shores, the structure's "sacrificial" design worked as expected and the pier should still be ready to open early next year, a representative of the company contracted to build it for the state said Wednesday.
The scheduled opening early in 2009 is barring any subsequent storms that have a greater impact on the pier, said LCI Inc. project superintendent Greg Thacker.
"The sacrificial design did work. It did what it was supposed to do," he said.
The concept Thacker is talking about allows parts of the pier to be sacrificed to wave action and purposely swept away in order to protect the integrity of the concrete pilings supporting the pier.
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