Diver inspecting Hudson-Athens Lighthouse after boat crash

HUDSON, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A team is investigating Monday to see if there was any further damage to the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse foundation after a tugboat and barge crashed into the monument last week.

The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse has been a staple of the community for the past 150 years.

"It's just bound into the fabric of who we are here," said Van Calhoun, chairman of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Restoration Committee and member of the board of directors with the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society.

Calhoun said this lighthouse was a focal point of the community back in the late 1800s.

"Between the people and the traffic coming up the river on the railroad, and the steamboat and the riverboat traffic coming up, this was the transportation superhighway of the United States," said Calhoun.

However, in recent years, the foundation of the lighthouse has come into question. Calhoun said in the last 20 to 50 years, a combination of factors such as the flow of the river, the tidal change and increased shipping traffic has eroded the soil underneath the lighthouse. Now, the lighthouse is only standing on what he called, a "mountain" rather than a flat level.

"It's become unstable in fact we have almost 10 feet of pilings showing in the water that shouldn't be," said Calhoun. "The bottom of the river should be right there, so that's our major problem.

Yet, that problem was being fixed, until a tugboat and barge crashed into the lighthouse last week. The crash caused physical damage to the dock and wiped out the staircase. Calhoun said this has delayed their progress because workers can't get up to fix the lighthouse without the stairs. Plus, that's not all he is worried about.

“The other damage would be the unforeseen damage of having such a large impact on such an already compromised structure that's sitting on wavy wooden piers," said Calhoun.

According to Calhoun, the lighthouse is standing on about 200 wooden pilings that could be at risk of water exposure.

“As the increase of exposed piles increases, your global stability of the structure can be compromised," said Austin Leonard, a staff engineer at Proper and O'Leary Engineering.

Which is why Leonard and a diving team went out Monday to see if the crash caused any more damage. He said the process took about a couple hours to complete.

“They’ll take tape measures and go from the top of the pile down to the mudline and just relay those measurements to me via radio, and then if we find anything else they’ll relay it back up and I'll take notes over the radio," said Leonard.

Right now, Leonard said even with the recent crash, he does not believe the structure is in any immediate danger of falling in.

"But if it continues to scour as it is right now, it will be a progressive failure," said Leonard.

The engineering team will have their final results on potential further damage in about a week. Leonard said their next course of action will depend on what they find. Crews will also be on the water Thursday, replacing the broken dock with a temporary one. Calhoun said they need to continue working on securing the wooden pilings, for the sake of the lighthouse.

“We need to get them covered back up as quickly as we can. Remember, they’ve been there for 150 years, they'll last another 150 if we can as soon as possible get them covered up again," said Calhoun.

The plan is to build a steel wall all the way around the wooden pilings to prevent water from seeping in. Calhoun hopes this will be complete by 2026. In the meantime, tours to the lighthouse have been suspended until at least the fall. For more information, visit their website.