Excavators and other heavy construction machinery are used in beach replenishment projects. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
Beachgoers will find they will have more room on the beach next summer, especially in the southern part of Ventnor, where the sand has migrated and narrowed the bathing beach to the foot of the dunes during high tides.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has notified Ventnor that it has awarded a contract to replenish the beach as part of the city’s long-standing agreement with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for beach restoration.
According to Army Corps spokesman Stephen Rochette, a $38.2 million contract has been awarded to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company to pump 1,278,000 cubic yards of sand from the ocean onto the beach throughout Ventnor and in the northern portion of Atlantic City, which has erosion and limits beach usage.
Rochette said the company will be using a hydraulic cutterhead dredge for the Atlantic City portion of the project and a hopper dredge for Ventnor.
Earlier this year, the Army Corps replenished the storm-damaged beaches in southern Ocean City, Strathmere and Sea Isle City as part of a nearly $39.2 million project.
According to information provided by Rochette, the project for Ventnor and Atlantic City is slated to begin in mid-November.
According to the DEP’s Coastal Management program, “an engineered beach and dune design includes periodic nourishment to replace the sand that has been eroded from the engineered beach and dune design template – often into offshore bar systems and alongshore.”
The Division of Coastal Engineering is responsible for administering the shore protection program, which ensures the stabilization, restoration or maintenance of the shoreline.
Massive pipes are used to pump new sand onto the beaches.Shore protection is becoming imperative because of climate change, subsidence and erosion of the beaches during increasingly stronger winter storms.
The Division of Coastal Engineering is responsible for administering the shore protection program which ensures the stabilization, restoration or maintenance of the shoreline. Shore protection is becoming imperative because of climate change, subsidence and erosion of the beaches during increasingly stronger winter storms.
Ventnor Commissioner of Public Works Lance Landgraf said the city has not been given a firm timeline for replenishment, which is also referred to as renourishment, but the work is likely to continue through the winter and be completed by spring.
Landgraf said the worst spots for beach erosion are south of the Ventnor Fishing Pier. North of the pier may include moving sand around to conform with the state’s preferred dune template, he said.
The state’s beach replenishment contract provides for cost sharing between federal, state and local governments, with the federal government providing 65% of the total cost, and the state and municipality sharing the remaining 35%, with the state paying 25% and the city 10%.
Landgraf said the city doesn’t have exact numbers yet, but Ventnor’s expected share of the cost will be between $700,000 and $900,000. The cost has been funded through prior bond ordinances.
The city’s beach was last renourished in 2021 as part of the city’s 50-year agreement with the state, and in 2017 when the dune system was put into place statewide. Landgraf said the city had dunes long before that.
“Our original dunes were built in 2002-2003,” he said.
Prior to that, Landgraf, a planner who currently works for the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, worked with city engineer Dick Carter on beach protection in the 1990s.
