Rockaway has officially kicked off its 2024 beach season, coinciding with the resumption of significant beach work in the area. Contract 1, which included multiple beach improvements for Rockaway, is now complete. This phase involved the construction of groins—stone structures designed to slow down natural beach erosion. As part of the ongoing efforts to protect the peninsula and reduce coastal storm risk, Rockaway received 14 new groins, while five existing groins were refurbished. Additionally, aging timber piers along the project area were removed.
Contract 2, which focuses on beach replenishment, is now underway. This phase includes the placement of millions of cubic yards of sand. This project will construct a reinforced dune, pedestrian crossovers, and places approximately 2.8 million cubic yards of beachfill along 10 miles of shoreline. The project involves the installation of 367,000 tons of armor rock, 212,000 tons of core material and gravel, and a seawall with 1.36 million square feet of steel sheetpile extending 14 feet on average along 35,000 linear feet of shoreline.
The project area consists of the Atlantic Coast of New York City between East Rockaway Inlet and Rockaway Inlet, and the water and lands within and surrounding Jamaica Bay, New York. More than 850,000 residents, 48,000 residential and commercial structures, and numerous critical infrastructure features such as hospitals, nursing homes, wastewater treatment facilities, subway systems, railroads, and schools are within the study area
There is a long history of sediment placement in the study area, with initial construction in 1977 and subsequent beach fill placement along the Rockaway peninsula. Renourishment activities in the project area occurred in various years from 1975 to 2014. A Reformulation was authorized by Congress in 1997 to ensure that the appropriate long-term solution was recommended. The Reformulation Effort for East Rockaway Inlet to Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay was authorized by the House of Representatives on September 27, 1997. After Hurricane Sandy devastated the Rockaways in 2012, significant efforts were undertaken to rebuild and fortify the area against future storms with 3.5M cubic yards of sand pumped onto the beach. In 2020 348,000 cubic yards of sand was pumped onto Rockaway Beach between Beach 92nd Street and Beach 105th Street to mitigate severe erosion.
Construction of the reinforced dune system commenced in the summer of 2024. These effort are coordinated with project sponsors, including the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and various NYC agencies.