New sand will be pumped onto Sea Isle City's beaches from 29th Street to 55th Street.
Nearly 2 million cubic yards of fresh sand will replenish eroded beaches in the Cape May County shore communities of Strathmere and Sea Isle City under a $21.6 million contract announced Thursday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In Strathmere, about 1.4 million cubic yards of new sand will be pumped onto a mile-long stretch of beach from north of Seaview Avenue to where Commonwealth Avenue meets Landis Avenue in the far southern part of town.
Sea Isle will receive 479,000 cubic yards of sand for a section of the beachfront stretching more than a mile from 29th Street to 55th Street.
The contract, awarded to Norfolk Dredging Co. of Chesapeake, Va., will also include restoring the eroded dunes. Work is expected to get underway in early June in Sea Isle. Construction updates will be regularly posted on the Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District’s website.
The contract calls for dredging, pumping and placing approximately 1.9 million cubic yards of sand taken from two “borrow areas” offshore. One site is located in Corson’s Inlet off Strathmere and the other is located about three miles offshore of Sea Isle.
Some shore towns have been struggling with severe erosion to their beaches and dunes caused by a series of offshore hurricanes and coastal storms in recent months.
Strathmere, for instance, recently was forced to demolish its former Beach Patrol headquarters after erosion washed away part of the dune under the building.
Strathmere's beaches have been hit hard by erosion. (Photo courtesy of Strathmere Improvement Association)On April 6, South Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew announced plans by the Army Corp of Engineers to spend $99 million in federal funding for beach replenishment projects in Ocean City, Strathmere, Sea Isle City, Avalon and Stone Harbor.
The Army Corps of Engineers is soliciting bids for separate beach replenishment projects in the north end of Ocean City and for Avalon and Stone Harbor.
Wide, beautiful beaches are considered essential for attracting vacationers to the shore during the busy summer tourism season.
Together with the dune system, healthy beaches also provide the first line of defense against coastal storms to protect homes, businesses and other critical areas of the shore communities.
"Maintaining strong, healthy beaches is very important for every seashore community, and we are very happy that Sea Isle City's shoreline will be strengthened this year,” Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer said about the upcoming replenishment project.
“Large beaches and strong dune systems are critical components when it comes to protecting our community from storm surges and extreme high tides, so this beach replenishment project is very good news,” Custer added.
Vacationers may have to tolerate some inconveniences when the heavy construction machinery and large pipes used for replenishment projects are on the beaches during parts of the summer season.
“Unfortunately, cities do not control when these replenishment projects take place, so when the Army Corps of Engineers and the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection schedule a beachfill, we take the sand and do our best to accommodate the project's requirements, regardless of the timing – because these projects are simply too important to turn down,” Custer said.
Where needed, beach pathways will also be restored as part of the replenishment project.During the beach replenishment work, the sand is graded in a way that is designed to maintain the dune and berm system and reduce damage from coastal storms. Dune crossovers, access paths, fencing and other features will also be installed or repaired as part of the contract.
The Army Corps of Engineers and the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection pay for most of the beach replenishment projects, but the shore communities also contribute their share of the cost.
To fund the projects, the Army Corps of Engineers said it has expedited all pre-construction steps consistent with the “Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork” initiative that was implemented by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle.
Telle oversees the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that manages beach replenishment projects nationwide.
Telle met with Congressman Van Drew and shore town mayors in February to tour areas of the Cape May County beachfront damaged by coastal storms. At that time, Telle pledged that the federal government would invest tens of millions of dollars into the Jersey Shore towns for beach and dune replenishment.
“We’re going to be delivering relief to South Jersey,” he said during a Feb. 13 news conference on the Ocean City Boardwalk.
