DNREC is close to completing the state’s portion of an emergency dredging and beach nourishment project on the north side of the Indian River Inlet.
"We are within a week or two of completing that state-funded project, which will by the end of it, have put about half a million cubic yards of sand on the beach, going about 5,000 feet of shoreline, creating a dune that's now about 25 feet wide and about six-to-eight feet high over the rest of the sand level," said DNREC Secretary Greg Patterson.
The 480,000 cubic yards of sand to restore the beach and dune after it was severely eroded following multiple storms last year flooding Route 1 is 100,000 cubic yards more than originally planned.
The beach now extends at least 150 feet wide, and Patterson says the next part of the project starts in late summer, and it will be handled by the Army Corps of Engineers.
"They're going to add about another 300,000 cubic yards to increase the width of the beach even further,” said Patterson. “So by the end of this year, we'll be in really good shape, hopefully will be enough sand to protect it from storms, protect Route 1, which is a vital transportation link there for probably the next six-to-eight years."
Patterson notes that the work has already helped handle the storms this winter - with this coming week providing another test.
