Sand placement provides shore protection, environmental benefits
Venice Beach renourishment progresses despite delays
Sand placement on Venice Beach is once again moving along after heavy seas and a mechanical problem caused a several-day shutdown of operations, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today (Jan. 31).
The $20.7 million project for the renourishment of Venice Beach will help protect infrastructure and property from storm damage, while other side benefits include providing habitat for shorebird and sea turtle nesting and supporting local recreation and tourism.
The contractor, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD), experienced several inclement weather days that caused significant wave height and a crankshaft mechanical problem with their booster vessel, the Erin. The Erin was towed to Tampa for repairs and GLDD’s Booster 8 is temporarily on station until repairs are complete. Dredging operations were re-initiated Jan. 30.
The project will place approximately 791,000 cubic yards of sand on 3.2 miles of Venice Beach shoreline.
The City of Venice and the Army Corps of Engineers signed a shore protection agreement that includes periodic sand placement – or renourishing – during the 50-year life-cycle of the project. The initial project construction was completed in 1996, the first renourishment occurred in 2005, and this is the second renourishment of Venice Beach.
Each renourishment corresponds to an engineer-designed template so that when storms occur, they affect the sand placement in the template and reduce impacts to the underlying beach foundation and landside infrastructure. The engineer design, which takes wave and tidal flow into consideration, makes best use of the natural system to preserve sand on the beach.
This renourishment is funded in partnership with the state, city and county, which contributed $6.8 million of the cost, and the Corps of Engineers, which funded $13.9 million from the federal government.
The Corps and the City of Venice ask the public to use caution in the construction area and to be patient with the temporary construction noise as the project progresses. Residents living close to the beach and near the active construction will likely hear pumps or heavy equipment backup alarms. This is a temporary situation.
In the past year, the Corps’ Jacksonville District managed 24 shore protection projects that put more than 8 million cubic yards of sand on 38.5 miles of Florida beaches. This amounted to $145 million of which $124 million was federally funded. Jacksonville District combined projects where feasible and saved about $20 million dollars in contractor mobilization costs. Each project required timely management and collaboration, coordination and communication between local sponsors and Federal and state agencies to move from reconnaissance to construction completion.
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