Officials Hail Beginning of Beach Replenishment Project in Ocean City

As a light drizzle fell on Ocean City Friday morning, a machine sat on the 42nd Street Beach, pumping sand into an area in desperate need.

About two and a half years after Superstorm Sandy decimated Ocean City, the long awaited southend beach replenishment project was underway.

The project began Thursday afternoon at 1:45 p.m., according to Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian.

On Friday morning, local officials gathered on the beach to celebrate the next step in Ocean City’s recovery.

“What a great day in Ocean City,” Mayor Jay Gillian said. “We have been waiting for this for a long time.”

“It is great to watch this project get started here in Ocean City,” New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said. “ … After Sandy, Governor Christie told President Obama that what we need in New Jersey is a full coastal protection system. The hard work of Congress and the President made that happen.”

The full coastal protection system is the first of its kind in the state. This project includes Ocean City, Strathmere and Sea Isle City, and is known as the New Jersey Shore Protection, Great Egg Harbor Inlet to Townsends Inlet project.

Another project was set to begin to close a five-mile gap in the stretch of coastline between Sea Bright and Manasquan in Monmouth County that was reconstructed after Sandy on Friday.

Five projects are scheduled to begin in communities that never had engineered beaches, Martin said. Upcoming projects include Long Beach Island and the northern Ocean County peninsula, between the Manasquan and Barnegate Inlets, including Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Mantoloking, Brick, Toms River, Lavallette, Seaside Heights, Seaside Park and Berkeley.

In all, eight projects have been completed at a cost of $245 million, with 100 percent of the bill being picked up by the federal government.

“This is one-time thing,” said Congressman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ2), who added that the federal government usually picks up 65 percent of the project costs. “This is a tremendous opportunity.”

In Ocean City, the project extends from 34th Street to the northern boundary of Corson’s Inlet State Park. It includes the construction of a dune about 13 feet above sea level with a 25-foot width at the top and a beach extending 100 feet from the seaward base of the dune.

Sand will be pumped using a “Hopper Dredge,” which representatives described as an “ocean going ship” which sucks the sand up into its haul and travels ashore, where it is then pumped out. There will be one boat used and it can pump 4,000 yards of sand per load. It is able to pump five or six loads a day, according to representatives.

The City will receive about 1.6 million cubic yards of sand to cover 2.6 miles of area for the project.

There will be a total of 56 dune crossovers constructed as part of the project.

A majority of the project is expected to be finished by July 15.

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company of Oak Brook, Illinois, is handling the project for $57.6 million. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the project.

“This is the culmination of a long process that involved a lot of hard work,” Lt. Colonel Michael Bliss, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District, said. “ … For these three Cape May communities, we especially appreciate their patience and perseverance in seeing this project through to reality.”

The first attached image was posted on ocnj.us.