What to Expect During Beach Renourishment

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District is currently working on a beach renourishment project to help provide protection against storm damage to people and property along the Grand Strand. Three million cubic yards of sand are being placed along the coast -- that's enough sand to be placed on an area the size of a football field that would reach as high as the Empire State Building.

Garden City Beach/Surfside Beach has already received 750,000 cubic yards of sand over 7.7 miles, while North Myrtle Beach has received 750,000 cubic yards over 8.6 miles. Myrtle Beach will receive 1.5 million cubic yards of sand over 9 miles. The sand is being dredged from borrow sites about three miles offshore.

The entire project is scheduled for completion by the end of January.

Here's what you can expect to see in the final stages of this project:

• During active beach renourishment construction, over 99.5% of Grand Strand beaches are open and available for the public to enjoy.
• The sand that is dredged offshore and placed on the beach frequently contains large amounts of shells that visitors can enjoy.
• The construction contractor continuously moves along the beach during construction, usually about 500 feet per day -- but sometimes as much as 1,000 feet per day. That means that active construction that is fenced off will typically only be directly in front of any particular building for a day or two. Even then, the area fenced off is only about 200 yards long so it's easy to go around the active construction area. Since rough seas, equipment maintenance, and other factors affect the progress, there is no way to predict months or weeks in advance exactly where will be active construction.
• Pipelines running along the beach outside of the fenced area can safely be crossed where the contractor places sand ramps over the pipes.
• Many people enjoy watching the construction activities and find it interesting and educational.
• The contractor works 24 hours a day. There might be some construction noise at night related to bulldozers.
• Even though there is an occasional minor inconvenience, it is for a major long term benefit--to protect people and property from storm damage.

Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District

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