This stretch of road connecting the Lower Coast to the rest of Trepassey has been washed out nearly every winter the past few years by big storms. Less than 20 residents live on the Lower Coast these days, an area that some people maintain as the site of one of Sir William Vaughn’s failed Welsh settlements in the Colony of New Cambriol, a swath of the southern Avalon he purchased in 1616 running from Calvert to Placentia Bay. Over the next four years, Vaughn tried to settle people first in Aquaforte, then Renews, before the latter settlers abandoned the colony in 1620. Besides bad weather and the daunting prospect of trying to build a colony in the wilderness from scrach, Vaughn’s settlers also had to deal with pirates. Craig Westcott photo
By Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Tyler Waugh
A Halifax-based company has been awarded the tender to research a long-term solution to bolster a Trepassey seawall that has been repeatedly battered by severe storms in recent years.
CBCL Limited, which also has a St. John’s office, was awarded the Shoreline Protection Study tender in late August at a price of $102,028. It was chosen from among four firms that submitted bids by the mid-June deadline.
Chenel Waight, a project manager and engineer with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, said the seawall has been damaged multiple times by severe weather. She said an in-depth look at underlying conditions will help determine next steps.
“The study should be complete by the end of the year,” Waight said, adding it will provide information needed before proceeding to detailed design.
Bids were also received from Stantec out of Waterloo, WF Baird & Associates Coastal Engineers Ltd., of Ottawa, and GEMTEC Consulting Engineers and Scientists Limited of Mount Pearl.
The Town has seen the lower coast breakwater succumb to Mother Nature several times in recent years as locals have borne witness to an increase in wind strength and rising tides. The breakwater was last rebuilt in summer 2023 at a cost of around $1 million, including $900,000 of emergency federal funding. But that work was demolished, along with portions of the main road, during a February 2024 storm.
A tender for seawall upgrades in Trepassey was published in September 2025, but the breakwater suffered additional damaged in a November 2025 storm where winds were reported upwards of 140 kmh. The seawall upgrade tender was awarded to Rock Construction Company on January 19, 2026 at a cost of around $1.66 million, but just two weeks later another winter storm further damaged the seawall and road, resulting in a 24-hour state of emergency in the town and calls for a more comprehensive solution to protecting the infrastructure and residents.
The Irish Loop Post tried contacting the Town of Trepassey and Mayor Wanda Waddleton about the seawall but did not receive a response.
