OCEAN CITY — Beaches in America’s Greatest Family Resort and in Strathmere are getting some much-needed nourishment in the heart of the summer season.
Beach replenishment just finished in Sea Isle City.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District awarded a $19.5 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. of Houston in the spring for the Great Egg Harbor and Peck Beach Coastal Storm Risk Management project.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, announced in April that southern New Jersey would receive $99 million from the Army Corps to replenish and protect key beaches in Ocean City, Strathmere and Sea Isle City, along with Avalon and Stone Harbor.
After receiving $28 million in federal funding, the Army Corps announced April 10 that it was moving forward with the Great Egg Harbor Inlet to Townsends Inlet dune and beach fill project.
Funding came from the Philadelphia District, the state Department of Environmental Protection and local taxpayers.
The contract calls for dredging, pumping and placing more than 1.6 million cubic yards of sand from a borrow site in Great Egg Harbor Inlet on beaches from Seaview Road south to 12th Street in Ocean City.
The sand is pumped through a pipeline onto the beach and graded into an elevated berm. The project is designed to reduce the risk of storm damage to infrastructure.
City public relations officer Doug Bergen said last week that 240,770 cubic yards as sand was dumped as of July 21.
Beaches were closed between the Third Street jetty and Fifth Street jetty as the project moves south. Once it reaches 12th Street, the pipes will be picked up and moved to the north side of the pipeline at St. Charles Place to fill the north end of the island. Construction began July 7 and is expected to be completed by late August, early September.
“There are lots of factors that can affect the timing,” Bergen said.
The contractor is erecting fencing to keep people away from the work site.
Bergen said the message to the public is “an open beach is always only a block away.”
The city is updating the information daily at ocnj.us/beachupdate. The public can sign up for daily email notifications that state exactly where the work is taking place and where open, guarded beaches are located.
Strathmere
Work is also under way in the Strathmere section of Upper Township, where according to an update July 21, public access was prohibited at Williams Avenue, Willard Avenue, Whittier Avenue and Webster Avenue.
According to Township Administrator Jimmy Van Zlike, pumping operations began July 15.
“Crews are currently placing sand around Williams Avenue and will progress north toward Sea Cliff and Sea View avenues once the design template at Williams is reached,” he said July 22. “Upon completing the northern section, operations will pivot south of Williams Avenue to replenish Willard and Whittier avenues, continuing south until reaching the final completion point near the Jasper Avenue street end.”
Van Zlike said the work is expected to last into September.
“As with any offshore pumping project, the timeline remains dynamic and subject to weather conditions or equipment maintenance. As of today, July 22, the target completion window is estimated between Sept. 7 and Sept. 13,” he said.
Upper Township Mayor Curtis Corson said the crew had pumped 132,000 cubic yards of sand by July 21 onto the beach at Williams Avenue but had not filled a block yet.
“They are building our beach 400 feet out with a dune system,” Corson said, noting it’s much larger than the project in Sea Isle City. “There was an 11-foot-tall dune there that is completely gone.”
The township is closing 1,000 feet of beach at a time as the project moves along.
Corson said with the nourishment, the beach would be as big as it was after the initial beach fill about 20 years ago.
The mayor said the township is still looking at longterm solutions, noting the DEP has expressed no interest in a plan to place temporary barriers filled with sand just offshore to break the waves before they strike the shore.
He said they are hoping for funding for a hard structure, including studies and engineering, but added that what works some places might not work at Corsons Inlet.
“Ocean City has all kinds of hard structures in the north end and still has erosion,” he said.
Sea Isle City
Mayor Leonard Desiderio reported in his July 23 E-Newsletter that he was happy to report dredging and beach fill operations were completed in Sea Isle City, where 479,000 cubic yards of sand was placed between 29th Street and 55th Street (about 6,771 feet).
“I’ve received many compliments about how great our beaches look,” Desiderio wrote. “Thank you to all our residents and visitors for your patience throughout this important undertaking.
“In addition to providing more room for recreation, our newly widened beaches offer critical shore protection that will benefit our community for years to come. I also want to thank the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and Norfolk Dredging for their outstanding work in managing and successfully completing this project.
Dredging and beach fill operations began June 14.
– STORY by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
