Report of Medical Waste on LBI Beach Unfounded

Authorities searching Long Beach Island's ocean beaches Tuesday found no traces of medical waste, officials said.

An unidentified person told a member of a municipal beach patrol Tuesday that medical waste was spotted on a beach two weeks ago, said Timothy J. Hilferty, director of the Long Beach Island Health Department. Crews scoured Surf City beaches Tuesday afternoon and did not find anything, he said.

"Our inspectors were there yesterday to check it out, and nothing unusual was found," Hilferty said.

"We anticipate a good Memorial Day weekend," he added.

But some beaches in Surf City may be off limits to beachgoers starting as early as next week for a different reason, according to officials at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Beach restoration work will begin in the borough after June 3, according to a statement from the Corps' Philadelphia office. Work will start at North 11th Street and progress to the north, ending at 25th Street. While the project is under way, two-block-long swaths of beach will be closed at a time, according to a statement released Wednesday.

The Corps awarded a contract in March to Weeks Marine, Inc., of Cranford, to restore storm-battered beaches at the borough's north end with funds from the federal Flood Control and Coastal Emergency program. Work was set to begin in April and scheduled to be complete by Memorial Day, but other high-priority dredging requirements for the available dredge boat, coupled with a subsequent major mechanical breakdown of the dredge, delayed the start of the project.

All of the restoration work is set to be completed by June 28. The project will not affect beaches south of North 11th Street, including the beaches near the borough's primary parking areas from North 5th Street to North 9th Street.