Community Corner
Army Corps Outlines Schedule For Long Beach Summer Beach Work
Work has already begun along the beach, and dredging is expected to start next week.
Long Beach beachgoers are going to have to share the sand with an unlikely group this summer: construction workers.
The city is quickly moving along with the Army Corps of Engineers plan to repair and revitalize the beach, and that means that crews will be working on the sand throughout the summer weeks.
The Army Corps plan calls for dredging sand from offshore to replenish the beach. When completed, the beach will will nearly double in size. It will not only make more room for people on the sand, but will also help protect against erosion and flooding from storms.
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The city outlined the plan in a presentation to residents on June 27. Right now, contractors are still working on pile driving, but that will complete soon. There are 17 locations for piledriving, and each location is expected to take about a week. Once that is complete, the dredging will begin. The Army Corps plans to close 1000 feet of beach at a time to lay sand. They will start in the west and move east, toward the more populated areas of the beach.
Piledriving will be happening in the east while sand is being laid in the west. The earliest start date for dredging is July 10. The dredge, which will be moored off the coast, is expected to arrive on July 7.
Find out what's happening in Long Beachfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
As of now, construction is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. However, the city is considering a noise variance to allow work to happen 24 hours a day. If that is approved, it would allow crews to finish about 200 feet of coastline per day -- double what they could get done without the variance. At this pace, the Army Corps estimates it will take about a month to go from Ohio Avenue to New York Avenue, a distance of about .8 miles.
Once the crew has moved from the work area, the sand will be smoothed, graded and ready for use. However, there will still be a 30-inch pipe left on the beach in some areas. While beachgoers shouldn't touch the pipe, there will be ramps made of sand to get over the pipe.
Photo courtesy Army Corps of Engineers
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