" alt="LBI Waterfront Real Estate" />Beachfill operations were scheduled to resume Tuesday morning on Long Beach Island after a suspension of activity, including dismantling of all shore-based pipeline, for a few days due to rough seas. However, with stormy weather forecasted for the remainder of this week as Tropical Storm Joaquin moves up the coast, the project is still temporarily on hold.
“The (dredge) Dodge Island is currently on standby,” Ed Voigt, public and legislative affairs chief for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia, said Tuesday. Dodge Island left safe harbor in the New York Bay Anchorage Channel early this morning, and is now offshore.
“Once we are able to resume,” Voigt added, “(Dodge Island) should be joined in short order by the Liberty Island, which completed beachfill operations in southern Ocean City at 11:45 this morning.”
When the weather improves, contractor Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. will recommence beachfill operations near Burwell Avenue (71st Street) in the Brant Beach section of Long Beach Township, moving south. Work on this segment of the project – from the previously constructed beaches at Selfridge Avenue (57th Street) in Brant Beach to Nebraska Avenue in Beach Haven Park – is expected to be complete in approximately mid-November.
Operations are, as of now, scheduled to then move to either Loveladies or North Beach. Beach Haven and Holgate, meanwhile, are slated for beachfill to begin around January.
The federal beach replenishment project, a joint effort between the Army Corps and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection designed to reduce future storm damage, was only partially completed when Superstorm Sandy struck in fall 2012. As noted on the USACE’s project website, nap.usace.army.mil, “The Army Corps completed the initial construction of the project at Surf City in 2006; Harvey Cedars in 2010; and Brant Beach between 31st and 57th Streets in Long Beach Township in 2012. The Army Corps repaired beaches in Surf City and Harvey Cedars in 2012 after Hurricane Irene, and fully restored the beaches within all three communities after Hurricane Sandy in 2013. The restoration and repair work was funded 100 percent through the Army Corps’ Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies program.
“On December 5, 2014 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a contract to the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company for $128 million to complete initial construction of the Long Beach Island project.”
The recent beachfill efforts began in Ship Bottom in early May, then moved to Long Beach Township. All work under the base contract is required to be complete by April 12, 2016, though there are options on the contract for additional time due to weather and/or mechanical delays.
The project schedule is updated regularly at nap.usace.army.mil. —J.K.-H.
This article printed in The Sandpaper Sept 29, 2015
