According to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, the dredging contractor for the upcoming beach nourishment project, we will, for most of the spring and summer, have two hopper dredges working off our shore. Therefore, there will be two closed construction beach sections, about 1,000 feet in length, during most of the project.
As background, in general, a hopper dredge will draw sand into its large hold and then it will sail to a submerged pipe and pump the sand onto the shore, where bulldozers grade the sand into a pre-determined construction template. Beach nourishment projects are designed to take advantage of natural forces to move about two-thirds of the sand offshore to create a more stable beach shape, which is more effective in breaker larger waves offshore. Learn more about equilibration from the American Shore and Beach Preservation web site.
Typically, when Great Lakes has completed nourishing a section of beach, they will re-open the closed section and then progress either north or south on the beach, moving pipe as they progress. Then, when they have reached the end of the pipe, they will move past their completed sections, and begin the process once again.
The dredges slated to work on our project are currently in Carteret County, North Carolina. Once they have finished there, they will sail to Nags Head. Keep in mind that there are many, many moving parts to these large projects, so the schedule is very dynamic. Weather and mechanical issues can greatly impact the nourishment timeline. We expect to have a preliminary schedule in March or April.
We will post scheduling information on our web site and update it as much as possible. Information will also be updated on Dare County's MoreBeachtoLove.com web site.
We will forward more information concerning this project as soon as we receive it.
Please let others know that they can monitor the Town’s web site, social media sites, or sign up for our email broadcast to keep current with the project.