The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District has awarded a contract to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company for $17.2 million to repair dunes and beaches at Bethany, South Bethany and Fenwick Island in Delaware.
Work is the result of a partnership between the Philadelphia District and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
Work will involve dredging more than 1.2 million cubic yards of sand from approved offshore sand borrow sites. Sand will be pumped through a series of pipes and placed on the beaches in Bethany, South Bethany and Fenwick Island.
Dunes will be repaired in certain areas and beaches will be widened to more than 200 feet along approximately 4 miles of coastline, USACE said.
The contract also includes the planting of dune grass, installation of sand fencing, and repairs of dune crossover/access points. Depending on the condition of the beach based on surveys, the Army Corps could exercise contract options to place additional sand as part of the project (an additional 230,000 cubic yards).
The total cost for the base contract and all options is $19.2 million.
The Bethany-South Bethany project was first constructed in 2008 while the Fenwick Island project was first constructed in 2005. The projects were damaged by recent storms, including a Nor’easter in October of 2015 and Hurricane Joaquin in January of 2016.
The project is cost-shared between the Federal government and the State of Delaware. The Army Corps will issue a Notice to Proceed to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company in the next several weeks with construction expected to begin in early 2018.