New Sand for South Padre Island

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, partnered with the Texas General Land Office and the City of South Padre Island to begin a beach renourishment project this week using beach-quality sand harvested from the Brazos Island Harbor Jetty and Entrance channels in South Texas, maintenance dredging project.

“We’re very excited about this year’s beach renourishment project,” said City of South Padre Island City Manager Bill DiLibero.

“The timing for the project is perfect since we will be able to deposit the sand on the beach rather than off shore, which has been the case for other renourishment projects. We will be getting twice the amount of sand as a result of the scale of the project.”

The district awarded a $6.5 million contract earlier this month to Weeks Marine Inc., to remove approximately 651,000 cubic yards of sandy material using a pipeline dredge to clear the navigation channels.

The Corps is expected to pump approximately 651,000 cubic yards of dredged material originating from the Brownsville Harbor navigation channel to renourish approximately three quarters of a mile of Texas’ famed spring break destination.

The beach nourishment project, called ‘beneficial use,’ employs environmentally and economically responsible ways to use dredged materials to benefit local communities, explained Nicholas Perez, the USACE Galveston District Project Engineer, and allows the Corps to improve eroded coastlines through the placement of dredged material.

Contractors are scheduled to mobilize equipment this week with an estimated completion date of February 2016.

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