Town Neck Beach nourishment plan on the table

The USACE New England District is proposing a Section 111 Shore Damage Mitigation Study for beach nourishment of Town Neck Beach in Sandwich, Massachusetts.

This area has eroded as a result of the Cape Cod Canal Federal Navigation Project (FNP) jetties at the east entrance of the Canal.

The work is authorized by Section 111 of the River and Harbor Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-483), as amended, said USACE.

The purpose of the proposed project consists of the construction of an engineered beach at Town Neck Beach. This would be accomplished using approximately 388,000 cubic yards of beach compatible material that would be dredged, pumped and graded onto Town Neck Beach from a nearshore borrow site adjacent to Scusset Beach.

Sediment starvation of the littoral system downdrift of the Cape Cod Canal FNP jetties has resulted in extensive and worsening erosion of the existing beach, which has subsequently and significantly compromised public and private property and infrastructure in the town of Sandwich.

Significant loss of the beach and damage to shorefront structures has occurred in recent years, and if the conditions are left unaddressed, those impacts to the community would increase.

The recommended plan would restore a barrier beach and dune system to provide protection for the area, and it would reintroduce a substantial amount of material to the impacted littoral system downdrift of the jetties.