Weeks Marine to Begin Northern Ocean County Beach Project

Weeks Marine was recently awarded contract for the northern Ocean County storm damage reduction project.

The project contractor will start pumping sand in Ortley Beach in mid-April, marking the start of work on northern Ocean County’s beaches, hammered by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, reports Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin.

Ortley Beach, which sustained catastrophic property damage from Superstorm Sandy, will receive approximately 267,000 cubic yards of sand, creating an approximately 225-foot-wide beach over the course of two weeks next month.

According to DEP, dune and beach construction work for Ortley Beach will resume in the fall. Work on other beaches in northern Ocean County will take place during the summer and into early next year.

For the project, Weeks Marine will utilize multiple-suction hopper dredges as well as cutter-head dredge. The company will work in 1,000-foot-wide sections of beaches at a time to minimize impacts to residents and visitors.

The $128 million northern Ocean County project entails 11 million cubic yards of sand covering some 14 miles of coastline along the Barnegat Peninsula, protecting the communities of Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Mantoloking, Brick, Toms River, Lavallette, Seaside Heights, Seaside Park and Berkeley Township.

For most of this project area, dunes will be built 22 feet above mean sea level. Beaches will be constructed from 100 feet to 300 feet wide and 8.5 feet above mean sea level. The project area will receive periodic replenishment projects over the course of 50 years to replace sand lost through normal erosion.

The tentative schedule for the northern Ocean County project is as follows:

• Ortley Beach (Initial beachfill): Mid-April 2017 through late April 2017;
• Mantoloking: Early July 2017 through September 2017;
• Seaside Heights: Late September 2017 through October 2017;
• Seaside Park: Late October 2017 through late December 2017;
• Ortley Beach (Completion): Mid-October 2017 to mid-December 2017;
• Brick: Winter 2018;
• Normandy Beach (Toms River): Winter 2018;
• Lavallette: Spring 2018.

The federal government will pay for 65 percent of the project using money approved under the 2013 Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, which funds projects that Congress had previously authorized but had not been completed by the time Sandy hit. New Jersey will pay for 35 percent of the project from the state’s Shore Protection Fund.