Beginning last Saturday, July 18, crews have been dredging Big Pass to pump fresh sand into South Lido Beach as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ long-term beach renourishment project.
The City of Sarasota, FL, said that the restoration work will help protect the Lido Key shoreline, infrastructure and wildlife from erosion and storms.
The beach will remain open to the public as the work gradually heads north in the coming months.
The primary sand source will be portions of Big Sarasota Pass and ebb shoal, split over two borrow areas.
Under the official plan, two rubble mound groins will be constructed at the south end of Lido Key. They will consist of uniform 2-ton armor stones, placed on 12-inch-thick marine mattress foundation mats on geotextile fabric.
Project work also includes, but is not limited to, beach tilling, construction/vibration control and monitoring, turbidity monitoring, environmental species monitoring, beach fill remediation and incidental related work.