Seattle closing Pier 57 Miner's Landing after partial collapse of Pier 58

SEATTLE - Seattle officials say they have not seen any damage to Pier 57 Miner's Landing, but the city is closing it "until further notice" after Pier 58 partially collapsed last week.

The city of Seattle said the closure was "due to its proximity to the failing Pier 58 structure and the potential for failure of the remaining structure."

Federal and state officials say they have begun investigating the partial collapse Pier 58 along Seattle’s waterfront as workers were demolishing portions of it.

The inspectors will investigate the city and two contractors involved in the demolition project before a 15,000-square-foot piece of the pier broke into the water, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries said Monday. The contractors being investigated are Orion Marine Contractors and Evergreen Concrete Cutting

The city also said Friday no damage had been observed at Pier 59 which is home to The Seattle Aquarium which will remain open.

RELATED: Seattle to be investigated after the collapse of Pier 58

“Our top priorities continue to be public safety, the safety of our construction team and protecting critical infrastructure,” said Marshall Foster, Director of Seattle’s Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects. “We support SDCI in taking this necessary action and will continue to work with waterfront partners and businesses to both protect public safety and minimize impacts.”

“We agree with the engineer’s assessment and believe this increased risk to public safety requires temporary closure of Pier 57 until the hazard is mitigated,” said Nathan Torgelson, Director of Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections. “Per the letter from the engineer, Pier 58 is structurally integrated with Pier 57 to the south. If a spontaneous collapse of Pier 58 were to occur, it could present an imminent hazard to the adjacent Pier 57. As a precaution, we have posted a red-tag on Pier 57 which will prevent access and operations on the pier until further notice.”

Seattle is reinstalling monitoring systems at Pier 58 and demolition will soon resume. It's scheduled to be removed by early 2021.