The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, announced today that construction activities are ongoing with the Palm Beach County Beach Erosion Control Project. The work is in response to impacts from Hurricane Sandy’s passage in 2012. Beach renourishment provides significant storm damage protection benefits for upland structures in addition to restoring shorebird and marine turtle habitat.
In total, crews will dredge and place approximately two-million cubic-yards of beach quality sand on approximately 6.5 miles of Palm Beach County beaches at an estimated cost of $20 million. Jacksonville District is placing a total of 7.5 million cubic yards of sand on 38.5 miles of eroded beaches in Florida as part of the Flood Control and Coastal Emergency (FCCE) program.
The Corps awarded two contracts for four segments within Palm Beach County that will be renourished as a result of the hurricane. The first contract is for the Jupiter/Carlin segment and is 100% federally funded under the FCCE program. The second is a combined contract for the Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach and North Boca Raton segments. These segments are jointly funded by the FCCE program and cost shared with the local sponsors for each segment.
Cashman’s’s Dredge Atchafalaya is collecting sand from offshore and piping it onto the Jupiter/Carlin segment. This work is scheduled for completion at the end of January 2014. Marinex’s Dredge Savannah will start collecting sand soon from offshore and pipe it onto the Ocean Ridge segment first, followed by Delray Beach and North Boca Raton segments.
All work is scheduled for completion at the end of April 2014. Once sand is piped on the beach, crews are using moderate to heavy equipment to move the new sand until it matches the design profile.
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Press Release, December 11, 2013