Construction of the People’s Pier on Washington’s downtown waterfront will result in a section of the Stewart Parkway promenade being closed.

Visitors to the construction area (south of the end of Market Street) are urged not to cross the construction fencing. For those walking or jogging on the promenade, there is a short detour around the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce building.

“Hopefully, with the weather cooperating, the construction process will not take too long,” reads a notice about the pier project on the city’s website.

Construction of the pier was delayed several months earlier this year. The pier project was put on hold in this past spring to protect the spawning areas of certain fish species. That moratorium ended Aug. 1. In previous years, other projects that included pile-driving work were disrupted for the same reason.

In 2009, pile-driving work associated with the construction of the U.S. Highway 17 bypass bridge was halted for several months. The moratorium was developed to protect some species of fish as they migrate upriver to spawn. State policy requires that activities potentially creating an environment not conducive to spawning be suspended until spawning season concludes.

Construction was expected to begin in early August, but again it was delayed.

In October 2014, the City Council awarded an $83,124 contract to Sawyer’s Residential & Marine Construction to build the People’s Pier and erect the pier’s gazebo-like structure.

Plans for the pier show it extending from south of Harding Square and into the Pamlico River. The walkway is about 32 feet long and 8 feet wide. The pier’s platform will be about 40 feet by 36 feet.

The proposed gazebo-like structure will be in the shape of a polygon, according to city documents. That structure will be about 20 feet by 20 feet. Its purpose is to provide shade during summer months.

Fishing from the pier will not be allowed, and boats may not tie up to it.