TROY – The seawall rebuilding project is nearing completion as the City Council has given its support to the fifth bond issue of $475,000 for what has emerged as a $26.8 million project.

It is the final increase needed to complete the project, with work anticipated to be done by July, Mayor Patrick Madden’s administration said in a memo backing the bond issue.

Construction workers could be seen laboring along the seawall Monday north from under the Green Island Bridge to the parking lot on the south side of the Hedley Building at 433 River St. City Hall is located on the fifth floor of the Hedley Building and the city marina site is at the southern edge of the building’s parking lot.

The city began bonding for the project in 2014 when the first bond issue was for $9 million. The costs have grown over the last six years as the city confronted the extent of the deterioration of the wall along the Hudson River.

The city followed up with more bonds for $8.1 million in July 2017, $7.3 million in November 2018, $1.925 million in October 2019 and $475,000 this year. This latest round is to pay for inspection services for 2020, additional fencing along Riverfront Park and other cost increases.

“This is the last bond for the seawall. We need to end it,” Council President Carmella Mantello said.

The Council is expected to give final approval at its May 7 meeting to the $475,000 bond issue. The 98-year-old seawall was last repaired in 1978.

The city expects to complete the project as planned, said John Salka, a spokesman for Madden. The construction crews have not encountered any major delays this spring. The state’s stay-at-home order for the coronavirus pandemic has aided the project in reducing the number of people using the parking lots between the Green Island Bridge and Hedley Building making it easier for construction crews to perform their work, Salka said.

The seawall project was deemed a priority after Tropical Storm Irene flooded downtown areas in 2011. It’s considered important for protecting the Rensselaer County sewer lines that run along the wall from the river, flood control and redeveloping the city marina. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer announced in 2018 a federal grant of $14.2 million to assist the city in paying for the project.

The project’s cost grew as the city’s contractors had to deal with working with underwater concrete, drilling, caissons and deeper than projected depths of bedrock. The city also found extensive underwater scouring of the original seawall had cause more deterioration.