By Lauren Wanko
NJ Today
Rainy weather kept folks off the beach this afternoon, but today in Monmouth Beach sections of the shoreline were filled with construction equipment as the Army Corps continues work on a beach replenishment project. Congressman Frank Pallone joined local officials to highlight the work.
“We hope we don’t have a lot more Sandy-type storms but given global climate change and what seems to be happening as a result of it, it’s very likely that there will be more storms. And so having preparations, through beach replenishment here or flood control projects in other parts of Monmouth County or the state are really important in terms of preventing further damage to the Jersey Shore in the future,” Pallone said.
The beach replenishment project in Monmouth Beach began last week. It’s the first section of the project, which covers Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach. The Army Corps expects that section to be completed by the fall.
The beach replenishment project will be completed through four contracts. The other portions include Long Branch, Asbury Park to Avon and Belmar to Manasquan. The Army Corps completed a beach replenishment project in 2001 and now the goal is to restore those beaches since the superstorm. More than $100 million was allocated for the project from the Sandy aid package.
“Because of Superstorm Sandy and the fact that this was an allocation of money, post-Sandy relief unrelated to the way we usually do beach replenishment projects. The funding is 100 percent, which is significant for the towns because a lot of the towns are small,” Pallone said.
“This is for the entire project, from Sea Bright to Manasquan. Our estimate is about 5 million cubic yards of sand was taken away by Sandy. We’re gonna put back 8 million cubic yards of sand, so about 3 million more then what was removed from Sandy. So that’s gonna allow us to get to this restore component and not just to pre-storm conditions that are usually the case,” said Colonel Paul Owen, commander of the New York District of the Army Corps of Engineers.
Local officials say the replenishment work has been crucial to protecting their communities.
“I say without any hesitation that if we have not had sand projects over the last 20 years now, the borough of Sea Bright would be not be here as we know it,” said Sea Bright Councilman Jack Keeler.
“Had those beaches not been there, we would have been wiped out. There would be no Ocean Avenue,” Monmouth Beach Mayor Susan Howard said.
The entire beach replenishment project is expected to be completed by next year.