Corps awards contract initiating South Hutchinson Island coastal storm reduction beach construction project in St. Lucie County, Florida

Jacksonville, Fla. (Sept. 29, 2021) – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, awarded an $11.3 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., LLC, of Houston, Texas, to construct a coastal storm risk management beach on South Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County, Florida.

Funding for the project will be provided approximately 35 percent by the federal government and approximately 65 percent by the Corps’ non-federal sponsor, the St. Lucie County Erosion District.

The contract calls for the initial construction of a beach berm and vegetated dune along approximately 3.3 miles of the St. Lucie County shoreline, running south from Florida Department of Environmental Protection Range Monument R-98 to the Martin County line. Up to 800,000 cubic yards of sand will be dredged from federal waters off the St. Lucie County shore and placed on South Hutchinson Island to rebuild dunes and beaches. Dune vegetation will be planted once beach and berm construction are complete. 

The Corps’ objectives are to reduce storm damage to property and infrastructure, including State Route A1A (a major hurricane evacuation route) within the project area, and to maintain environmental quality along the coast and adjacent areas for resident and visitor use, sea turtle habitat and aesthetics. Objectives over the course of the project’s 50-year analysis period also include maintaining recreational use of beach and nearshore areas for activities such as beach-going, surfing, fishing and wildlife viewing.

The contractor is expected to begin mobilizing crew and equipment as early as November of this year. Construction is planned to be complete before May 1, 2022. 

“This federal project has been nearly two decades in the making,” said Trisston Brown, Chief of the Jacksonville District’s Coastal/Navigation Section. “I am excited that success to launch this project has finally achieved, and initial construction of the St. Lucie South Hutchinson Island Coastal Storm Risk Management project is getting under way.” 
 
-30-