Work is underway this week on a new temporary docking structure between unused North River Piers 90 and 92. With the big Sail250 celebration just a few weeks away, the city is working to increase pier space for visiting tall ships and a group of four connected spud barges will provided a home for several vessels during the festivities.

Stasinos tug John Joseph brought the spud barges which will comprise the new dock down from Verplanck on Wednesday afternoon and workers were still assembling them on Thursday.

At least some of the barges appear to have been drawn from the Champlain Hudson Power Express construction fleet; with the CHPE cable now complete and energized, the barges are available for new missions.

Pier 90 was mostly shutdown earlier this year due to structural issues and the city has plans to remove it entirely in the future, but for now it can still accommodate a small vessel on the section closest to the shoreline and one tall ships is set to dock here as well, according to a recent report in the New York Times. Pier 92 has been closed for years and will not be used.