BEACH

UPDATE

The Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company completed work at the southern end of Ocean City on May 17 (2016) to restore sand lost during storms in October 2015 and January 2016. Sign up for project update alerts by email .

PROJECT FACTS

• When: Work began April 24 and was finished May 17, 2016.
• Where: Beaches between 37th Street and 59th Street were restored. A feeder pipeline was in place on the beach at 52nd Street.
• Who: Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, the same contractor that completed the original project
• What: Ocean City beaches received an additional 323,000 cubic yards of sand, about 20 percent of the original total. For perhaps the first time since the beachfront was first developed, the island now has an uninterrupted line of protective dunes and healthy beaches from tip to tip.
• Why: The projects are designed to protect coastal property. The contractor had just completed a project to rebuild beaches and dunes with 1.5 million cubic yards of sand when the October 2015 storm hit.
• How: The dredge Illinois was stationed at a borrow area in Corson's Inlet and pumped sand through a pipeline that was progressively lengthened to cover the project area.
• How much: The estimated cost to bring an additional 1 million cubic yards to the three towns is $15.8 million. The cost is borne entirely by the federal government as part of a post-Superstorm Sandy to protect the entire coastline of New Jersey.

NORTH END BEACH REPLENISHMENT (Completed December 2015)

• When: The north end project started Nov. 2 and ended Dec. 21. It is complete.

• Where: The project covered the beaches between the “terminal groin” (the northernmost jetty at Seaspray Road) to 12th Street … with some work to taper the rebuilt beach to meet the existing beach at 13th Street.
• Who: Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company completed the work.
• What: The original estimate was that the project would require 700,000 cubic yards, but the Army Corps exercised options (based on updated surveys) to bring the total to 999,000 cubic yards. That figure includes about 40,000 cubic yards to restore dunes (which is typically not part of the agreement for renourishment projects at the north end).
• How much: The total project cost is approximately $12.3 million. The project is part of a 50-year agreement that calls for a three-year cycle of renourishment projects of which the federal government pays 65 percent, the state 35 percent (with the municipality bearing 25 percent of the state’s cost). That makes Ocean City’s share of the project 8.75 percent or about $1,078,087, though final accounting is not in.
• Will the dredge come back? Ocean City has asked the federal Army Corps of Engineers and state Department of Environmental Protection to return to the north end to replace sand lost during the January 2016 coastal storm (with or without federal and state funding).

SOUTH END BEACH REPLENISHMENT (Completed September 2015)

• When: The south end project started in April 2015 and (after and 11-week delay for dredge repairs) ended in late September 2015.

• Where: The project covered the beaches between 37th Street and 59th Street.
• Who: Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company completed the work.
• What: The project brought about 1.6 million cubic yards of new sand to Ocean City's severely eroded southern beaches, where Superstorm Sandy had flattened dunes allowing the ocean to meet the bay.
• How much: The total project cost was approximately $57 million including work done in Strathmere and Sea Isle City. The entire cost was borne by the federal government. The project is part of a new 50-year agreement that calls for a three-year cycle of renourishment projects of which the federal government will pay 50 percent, the state 50 percent (with the municipality bearing 25 percent of the state’s cost). That makes Ocean City’s share of future projects 12.5 percent.