Canaveral Harbor sand bypass project to begin next month

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock recently won a $40.6 million Army Corps contract for the sixth iteration of the Canaveral Harbor Sand Bypass project.

USACE will provide 100% of the total funding to dredge and bypass approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from the shoreline immediately north of Port Canaveral for placement along two segments of critically eroded shoreline in Brevard County, Florida.

The first segment runs along approximately 3.3 miles of shoreline starting just south of Jetty Park in the City of Cape Canaveral to about Shepard Park in the City of Cocoa Beach. The second segment runs along approximately 3.7 miles of shoreline from just south of Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach to the northern border of Patrick Space Force Base.

Work on the beach is expected to begin no earlier than Nov. 1, 2024, and be completed by April 30, 2025, to ensure all equipment is off the beach before the start of the next sea turtle nesting season.

The Canaveral Harbor Sand Bypass project is a federally authorized project designed to mitigate for downdrift erosion damages caused by the Canaveral Harbor Federal navigation project.

Previous bypassing efforts were completed in 1995, 1998, 2007, 2010, and 2019, which pumped a combined total of over 4.7 million cubic yards of sand onto Brevard County beaches.