View of the beach south of 50th Street at low tide on Jan. 22. The stretch will be part of a beach replenishment project scheduled to begin May 1 in Ocean City, NJ.
Ocean City officials met Thursday morning with representatives from the company that will rebuild eroded beaches at the southern end of the island and learned more about the timeline for a massive project that will stretch into the summer tourist season.
The date for Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company to start pumping new sand onto Ocean City beaches remains May 1, according to Ocean City Business Administrator Jim Mallon. Staging work to set up a dredge off the coast of Ocean City and lay a pipeline to the beach will begin in April.
A first pipeline will land on the beach in the area of 41st Street in Ocean City, and work will proceed northward from there to 36th Street. When that is complete, work will progress southward from 41st Street to 49th Street.
A second pipeline will then be directed to the beach at 55th Street, and work will move from there to 49th Street. Work will end with a southward push from 55th Street to 59th Street. (Corson's Inlet State Park will not be part of the project.)
Mallon said about 1,000 feet of beach (approximately two blocks) of beach will be closed at any given time — with work proceeding at an estimated 200 feet per day.
The company hopes to finish pumping by Aug. 12 and to complete dune construction by Aug. 20. Dune grass will be planted in November.
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The information came from a preconstruction meeting Jan. 22 with the federal Army Corps of Engineers, state Department of Environmental Protection and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock. Mallon shared information on the project Thursday afternoon during the annual Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce Economic Forecast event at the Flanders Hotel.
Great Lakes was awarded a $57.6 million contract to pump sand from an offshore borrow area to replenish beaches between 34th and 59th streets in Ocean City and across the length of Strathmere and Sea Isle City, where a second dredge will being pumping about a month earlier.
Real estate professionals, property owners and city officials are working to minimize the impact of the beach closings on the summer vacation season.
Mayor Jay Gillian said the city is working to arrange trolley service to help residents and visitors get to the beach this summer in sections where work is ongoing.
The city and Realtors are looking at other ways to communicate information about the project and cater to visitors during the project.
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