Dredging for the St. Augustine Beach renourishment project is now scheduled to kick-off December 29 due to a combination of weather and dredge maintenance, reports the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District.
According to the Corps, the contractor will temporarily suspend dredging operations the evening of December 31 for the Beach Blast event.
The Army Corps’ contractor, Marinex Construction, Inc., will begin dredging December 29 through January 21 from Anastasia Park to Pope Road. Work will progress from Pope Road to the St. Augustine Beach pier from mid-January to mid-February; followed by sand placement from the pier to 15th to 9th Streets between March and April, the Corps said.
USACE also added that Pope Road will be used as an equipment staging area and will remain closed for the duration of the project. Project completion is set for April (weather pending).
During the works, the contractor will place approximately 800,000 cubic yards of sand from the navigation channel and ebb shoal on the eroded beach.
The purpose of this project is to mitigate for down-drift shoreline impacts caused by the federal navigation channel at St. Augustine Inlet, and provide storm damage reduction for upland development.