Staff reports  |   The 1,045-foot-long Folly Beach Fishing Pier will be replaced by Charleston County Parks to allow the icon to continue to serve the community.  Construction is expected to start later this year.

“The 24-year-old Folly Beach Pier, while still currently safe for visitors, is deteriorating, its wooden piles impacted by marine boring worms,” according to a press release.  The parks department began dive inspections of the pier pilings in 2013, and encapsulated many of the piles over the past five years in an effort to strengthen them, kill the worms and maintain the integrity of the pier. The walkway has been continually inspected as well.