Duval County Beach Project Moves Forward

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District yesterday released the latest update and progress map for the Duval County beach project.

The $15.7 million Duval County Shore Protection construction contract was awarded this summer to Manson Construction of Seattle, Washington.

Under the deal, the contractor will place around 850,000 cubic yards of sand on about 8 miles of eroded beaches, including Jacksonville, Neptune and Atlantic beaches and the southern mile of Hanna Park.

According to the Corps’ update, the crews are nearing 18th Avenue South and will continue to 3rd Avenue North through the Thanksgiving holiday (weather pending). It will take approximately 11 days to complete the next stage of beach renourishment works, starting from 3rd Avenue North to the Margaret St.

The project’s completion is set for winter 2018. However, the contractor has a total of 330 days to complete the work.

The Duval County project was initially constructed in 1978-80 and since then, six principal renourishments occurred (1985-87, 1991, 1995, 2005, 2011 and 2016-17) in addition to periodic placement of maintenance-dredged sand. Beach renourishment normally occurs about every five to six years to maintain beaches as part of the project.