Navarre Beach Dune Restoration About to Begin

The Navarre Beach Dune Restoration project could begin as early as late April and will include placing of approximately 1.6 million cubic yards of sand east of the Gulf Islands National Seashore to the eastern limits of the beach Marine Park.

According to the Santa Rosa County, the project construction will make use of the same offshore borrow area used for the initial 2006 restoration project.

Works will restore the dune crest to a width of 30 feet with native dune plants and increase the width of the beach berm by 100 to 200 feet.

On December 10, 2015, the Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners awarded a construction contract to Weeks Marine Inc.

The contractor’s most recent “Order of Work & Project Schedule” cites Weeks Marine’s intent (subject to possible changes) to:

• begin mobilization of men and equipment in early April 2016;
• use the east portion of the Pier parking lot and the beach access at South Carolina Street to stage land-based equipment;
• start the estimated 50 days of sand placement by late-April with completion by mid-June.

For the project, Weeks Marine will use two trailing suction hopper dredges – the “R.N. Weeks” and the “B.E. Lindholm” – to excavate sand from the offshore borrow area.

Following completion of sand placement in Navarre Beach, the contractor has also indicated his intent to use the same two dredges to construct the Pensacola Beach project.

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