Beach Construction Underway At Last In Ortley Beach: Video

TOMS RIVER, NJ — As bulldozers beeped and cell phones rang, there was one sound that stood out above them all: the sound of sand and water rushing through a pipe and pouring onto the beach.

It's a sight and sound residents of the Ortley Beach section have been praying for ever since Superstorm Sandy devastated the Jersey Shore on Oct. 29, 2012, destroying hundreds of Ortley Beach homes in the process.

The beachfront community in Toms River still isn't whole, nearly five years after the storm struck. While dozens of homes are rising well above the floodplain, and are in various stages of being rebuilt, dozens of lots still sit empty, void of everything but weeds and For Sale signs.

For those who have rebuilt, the last four-plus years have been ones of near-constant worry, ramped up by storm warnings. Would the temporary dunes hold? Would their homes be protected?

Residents clamored for action at Township Council meetings. They rallied on the steps of Trenton. They pushed and prodded those who were reluctant to sign easements. And even when the easements were signed and word was that the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were finally moving forward, they held their breath.

State officials and the Army Corps of Engineers held a news conference Wednesday heralding the start of the project, which finally got underway over the weekend. Sand dredges belonging to Weeks Marine of Cranford, the contractor on the $128 million project, arrived Sunday after they had been delayed while completing a project in Panama City, Florida.

Residents who have been going out to watch the work said they began pumping sand on Monday.

Ortley Beach will receive approximately 267,000 cubic yards of sand and dredges will pump sand for approximately two weeks before moving to the Absecon Island beach and dune construction project.

Work in northern Ocean County will resume in late summer, starting in Mantoloking. The Ortley Beach part of the project is expected to be completed in November, officials said.

“The Christie Administration is pleased that this critical project has begun because it will protect vulnerable beaches along our coast by developing a statewide system of engineered beaches,” DEP Commissioner Bob Martin said Wednesday. “After seeing the devastation that Superstorm Sandy caused in Ortley Beach and other communities, projects such as these are vitally important for protecting lives and property, and for improving flood resiliency.”

The Army Corps of Engineers’ updated schedule for work at other northern Ocean County beaches is as follows. The schedule is subject to change due to weather, mechanical issues and if contract options are awarded:

• Mantoloking: Mid-August to October 2017
• Seaside Heights: October to November 2017
• Ortley Beach (Completion): November to December 2017
• Seaside Park: December 2017 to January 2018
• Brick: Winter 2018
• Normandy Beach (Toms River): Winter 2018
• Lavallette: Spring 2018

Weeks Marine will work in 1,000-foot-wide sections of beaches at a time to reduce impacts to residents and visitors. The company will use multiple-suction hopper dredges, which are ships that pull up large volumes of sand from offshore before maneuvering closer to the beach in order to pump sand onto the beach. Officials said there are four approves sites off the coast where the dredges are suctioning sand.

Weeks also is using a cutter-head dredge, which is a large barge that sits offshore and pumps sand continuously onto the beach via a pipeline.

"This represents one of the largest beachfill contracts in the history of the United States Army Corps of Engineers," said Lt. Col. Michael Bliss, the Army Corps of Engineers' Philadelphia District Commander. "The engineered dune and berm system will serve the vital purposes of reducing risk and helping to protect people and property."

“The township is thrilled to see this critically important, long-overdue project finally moving forward and we thank DEP Commissioner Bob Martin for his support and cooperation throughout this process,” Toms River Mayor Thomas F. Kelaher said. Toms River lost more than $2 billion in ratables due to Sandy.

The northern Ocean County project entails 11 million cubic yards of sand covering some 14 miles of coastline along the Barnegat Peninsula, protecting the communities of Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Mantoloking, Brick, Toms River, Lavallette, Seaside Heights, Seaside Park and Berkeley Township.

For most of this project area, dunes will be built 22 feet above mean sea level. Beaches will be constructed from 100 feet to 300 feet wide and 8.5 feet above mean sea level. The project area will receive periodic replenishment projects over the course of 50 years to replace sand lost through normal erosion.

The federal government will pay for 65 percent of the project using money approved under the 2013 Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, which funds projects that Congress had previously authorized but had not been completed by the time Sandy hit. New Jersey will pay for 35 percent of the project from the state’s Shore Protection Fund.

Photos and video by Karen Wall