News Releases

Army Corps New York District awards last of 13 major post-Sandy contracts for the repair and restore of previously constructed coastal storm risk reduction projects that were impacted by the storm

Published Dec. 3, 2013
Aerial image from September 7, 2013 shows a completed portion of a beach in Sea Bright New Jersey as restoration work continues. The Corps is placing roughly 8 million cubic yards of sand from Sea Bright to Manasquan Inlet to replace sand lost during Hurricane Sandy and restore the project area to its original design. This is being done to restore the previously built risk reduction beach project and help reduce coastal storm risks to the community in the future.

Aerial image from September 7, 2013 shows a completed portion of a beach in Sea Bright New Jersey as restoration work continues. The Corps is placing roughly 8 million cubic yards of sand from Sea Bright to Manasquan Inlet to replace sand lost during Hurricane Sandy and restore the project area to its original design. This is being done to restore the previously built risk reduction beach project and help reduce coastal storm risks to the community in the future.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is placing roughly 600,000 cubic yards of sand at Coney Island to replace sand lost during Hurricane Sandy and also to restore the Coney Island project to its original design profile from when the coastal storm risk reduction project (primarily the beach) was originally constructed in the 1990s. While the beach is a tremendous recreational asset, it's important to note that the engineered beach is designed to act as a buffer and reduce risks to the community from coastal storms like Hurricane Sandy.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is placing roughly 600,000 cubic yards of sand at Coney Island to replace sand lost during Hurricane Sandy and also to restore the Coney Island project to its original design profile from when the coastal storm risk reduction project (primarily the beach) was originally constructed in the 1990s. While the beach is a tremendous recreational asset, it's important to note that the engineered beach is designed to act as a buffer and reduce risks to the community from coastal storms like Hurricane Sandy.

A sand and water slurry mixture pumps onto Rockaway Beach on August 15, 2013 as part of beach renourishment efforts there. The angle shows the severely eroded areas where sand will be placed next as well as some of the densely populated areas where the sand being placed will help to reduce risk from future storms. Post-Sandy sand placement activities are underway at Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY as part of a project placing roughly 3.5 million cubic yards onto the beach to help reduce risks from future storms.

A sand and water slurry mixture pumps onto Rockaway Beach on August 15, 2013 as part of beach renourishment efforts there. The angle shows the severely eroded areas where sand will be placed next as well as some of the densely populated areas where the sand being placed will help to reduce risk from future storms. Post-Sandy sand placement activities are underway at Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY as part of a project placing roughly 3.5 million cubic yards onto the beach to help reduce risks from future storms.

  • Contracts were mostly for repair and restore of previously engineered and constructed beaches that reduce risks from coastal storms
  • Contracts involve the placement of more than 16.5 million cubic yards of sand along previously engineered and constructed beaches impacted by Sandy

NEW YORK – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, has reached the milestone of awarding the final contract for the repair and restoration of previously constructed coastal storm risk reduction projects impacted by Hurricane Sandy in New York and northern New Jersey.

The late October award for the repair and restore of the Westhampton Coastal Storm Risk Reduction Project in New York was the thirteenth and final contract for the District to award as part of the ongoing effort to repair and restore previously constructed coastal storm risk reduction projects in New York and northern New Jersey.

“The Army Corps of Engineers is moving forward on the repair and restoration of previously constructed coastal risk reduction projects in the region.  The award of the final contract for this phase of our work is a significant milestone as we progress toward helping the region to recover and reduce the risks for future coastal storms," said New York District Commander Col. Paul E. Owen. "Even though project areas may have experienced impacts from Sandy, which was a massive and unprecedented coastal event, these previously constructed projects helped reduce risks and mitigated impacts that would have been much worse.”

These thirteen contracts were awarded to various contractors and the base contract award amounts totaled roughly $230 million.

The contracts are primarily for sand placement, but also include repairs to project elements like levees, tide gates and outfalls. Of the thirteen contracts, 11 were primarily for sand placement, and include the placement of more than 16.5 million cubic yards of sand placement.

That includes the placement of roughly more than 7 million cubic yards of sand on previously engineered and constructed beaches in New York, which would be enough to build more than 5 sand castle Empire State Buildings (using a volume estimate of ~1.37 million cubic yards).

It includes roughly more than 9 million cubic yards of sand on previously engineered and constructed beaches in northern New Jersey, which would be enough sand to fill up MetLife Stadium roughly 4.5 times (using a volume estimate of ~2.04 million cubic yards).

Four of New York District’s repair and restore contracts have already been completed, which includes the placement of more than 3 million cubic yards of sand. Construction activities are also underway on three contracts. Construction is expected to begin on the remaining contracts over the winter.

“The Corps’ focus is to finish repairing and restoring these coastal storm risk reduction projects as soon as possible so they’re in better condition than they were prior to Sandy’s landfall,” said Anthony Ciorra, New York District Coastal Recovery Program Manager. “At the same time, we are continuing to work with our partners in New York and New Jersey to design and construct new projects that will reduce risk to additional coastal communities in areas throughout the region where no Corps projects have previously been constructed."

Other District offices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are also carrying out similar work throughout the northeast, which involves placing a grand total of more than 26 million cubic yards of sand along previously engineered and constructed beaches from Virginia to New England that were impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Everything the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does must be tied to a statutory authority and repair and restoration of previously constructed coastal storm risk reduction projects that were impacted by Hurricane Sandy 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 previously existing standing authority allows the Corps to return the project area to pre-storm conditions. For engineered and constructed beaches, through this legal authority, the Corps of Engineers is authorized specifically to replace sand lost from a 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 is authorized to restore certain previously constructed projects impacted by Hurricane Sandy to their original design profile. Through this legal authority, the Corps of Engineers is authorized to place the additional sand at previously engineered and constructed beach projects to restore the projects to their original design profile. PL 113-2 also allocated the funds for the repair and restoration work.

More information about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects where sand is being placed as part of the post-Sandy coastal restoration efforts is available in the following tables as well as on http://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Sandy.

The following table includes information regarding New York District’s repair and restore contracts, including estimated sand placement amounts to be placed through repair and restoration efforts. These numbers reflect current rough sand estimates and are subject to change as engineering and design work continues and as work on the coastlines moves forward. The contract award dollar figures represent base contract awards and are subject to change as work continues as well.

 

2013 Post-Sandy Army Corps NY District Coastal Project Repair and Restore

 

Project Name

Post-Sandy Sand Placement (Cubic Yards)

Initial Construction Completed

Awarded $

Current Activities

Rockaway 1A

1A - Up to 600,000            Total ~3.5M

1977

1A - $ 10M       Total - $36.4M

1A - Work Complete       

Rockaway 1B

1B - ~ 3 million Total ~3.5M

1977

1B - $26.4M Total - $36.4M

1B - Contract awarded, Winter Expected Work Start

Coney Island

~600,000

1995

$7.2 million

Work Complete

Gilgo Beach*

~1.7 million

Standing authority, directly associated with maintenance dredging

$21 million

Construction Active

Westhampton Interim

~1 million

1997

$14.2 million

Contract Awarded, Winter Expected Work Start

West of Shinnecock Inlet

~450,000

2005

$6.9 million

Contract Awarded, Mobilizing**

Oakwood Beach (not sand placement)

N/A

2000

$423,000

Work Complete

Keansburg

(two contracts)

~1.1 million

1973

$3 million - levee work       $36.9 million - beach work

Both Contracts Awarded, Winter Expected Work Start

Sea Bright to Manasquan (Contract 1 - Sea Bright to Monmouth Beach)

~2.2 million

1994 - 2001        (Monmouth Beach - 1995, Sea Bright - 1996)

$25.6 million

Work Complete

SB to M (CT 2 - Belmar to Manasquan)

~1.5 million

1994 - 2001                (Belmar to Manasquan - 1999)

$25.3 million

Construction Active

SB to M (CT 3 - Long Branch)

~3.3 million

1994 - 2001                   (Long Branch - 1999)

$40 million

Construction Active

SB to M (CT 4 - Asbury to Avon)

~1.2 million

1994 - 2001               (Asbury to Avon - 2001)

$18.3 million

Contract Awarded, Winter Expected Work Start

* Gilgo Beach – The Corps is partnering with the state of New York to place additional sand through the Gilgo Beach contract, but that will be at the state's expense (though costs will be saved by using a dredge already active in the inlet).

** The Corps placed sand at WOSI in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy, but will be placing additional sand later this year through another contract

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Contact
Chris Gardner
917-790-8108
christopher.p.gardner@usace.army.mil

Release no. 13-032