•Second of four contracts to restore Sea Bright to Manasquan Inlet project area
•Belmar to Manasquan contract for placement of roughly 1.5M cubic yards
•Estimated 8 million cubic yards of sand to be placed throughout the Sea Bright to Manasquan Inlet project area
NEW YORK – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District awarded a $25.3 million contract to Dutra Dredging Company of San Rafael, Calif. to place approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of sand to restore New Jersey beaches from Belmar to Manasquan as part of an emergency shore protection project which repairs and restores previously constructed beach erosion control and storm damage reduction projects throughout the region affected by Hurricane Sandy.
The contract is the second of four for restoration of the entire Sea Bright to Manasquan project area, with an estimated 8 million cubic yards of sand to be placed to restore the entire project area. The previously constructed beach erosion control and storm risk reduction project was constructed in the 1990s and completed in 2001 in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
The roughly 1.5 million cubic yards of sand being placed on beaches from Belmar to Manasquan through this second contract will be dredged from a previously identified offshore borrow area. It will be placed on beaches in the communities of Belmar, Spring Lake, Sea Girt and Manasquan north of the Manasquan Inlet.
The contract was awarded in July and construction work on the Belmar to Manasquan contract will likely begin by the end of August or in early September and completed in this winter.
“The Army Corps of Engineers is excited to award this contract for emergency beach replenishment from Belmar to Manasquan which will mitigate the impacts of future storms," said New York District Commander Col. Paul E. Owen. “With this second contract of four we’re continuing to restore the many beaches from Sea Bright to Manasquan and we hope that in addition to providing beach erosion control and storm risk reduction that this work also helps the region heal by restoring an important and central element to these coastal communities.”
Everything the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does must be tied to a statutory authority and the Sea Bright to Manasquan work is the result of two statutory authorities, one previously existing and one new since Hurricane Sandy.
Through the Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies Act, PL 84-99, the Corps of Engineers is authorized to repair previously constructed projects after a large event like Hurricane Sandy. Put simply, this pre-existing authority allows the Corps to return the project area to pre-storm conditions. Through this legal authority, the Corps of Engineers has been authorized to replace approximately 5 million cubic yards of sand lost from the entire Sea Bright to Manasquan project area during Hurricane Sandy.
Through the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 (the Sandy Relief Bill, or PL 113-2), the Corps of Engineers was further authorized to restore previously constructed projects impacted by Hurricane Sandy to their original design profile. Through this legal authority, the Corps of Engineers was authorized and received funding to place the additional millions of cubic yards of sand from Sea Bright to Manasquan to restore the project area to its original design template.
These types of beach restoration projects involve large pipes and heavy machinery and the Corps must ensure that work is performed in a safe and responsible manner that limits risks to the public.
The Corps makes every effort to limit impacts to recreation from ongoing work without compromising public safety. There will likely be rolling closures of roughly 1000 foot wide sections of beach where construction work is ongoing. Closures are closely coordinated with local municipalities and the State of New Jersey.
The coastal restoration work from Belmar to Manasquan as well as the larger Sea Bright to Manasquan project area is part of a larger U.S. Army Corps of Engineers effort throughout the northeastern United States to place more than 26 million cubic yards of sand to restore coastal storm risk reduction projects impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Roughly 16 million cubic yards of that is being placed at coastal storm risk reduction projects throughout the state of New Jersey, including work south of Manasquan Inlet being managed by the Philadelphia District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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