By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Bulldozers, excavators, massive pipes and other construction equipment have abruptly taken over a stretch of Sea Isle City’s beachfront in the far south end of the island at 91st and 92nd streets.
The most eye-catching piece of machinery that has appeared in Sea Isle is a towering “CRAB,” a three-legged contraption resembling something straight out of the “Star Wars” movies or perhaps an alien invasion flick.
Yet, there is nothing to fear. Sea Isle, in fact, is relieved to see the arrival of the CRAB and other equipment that are part of a project to replenish the eroded shoreline with huge amounts of fresh sand and repair the depleted dunes.
The 33-foot-tall Coastal Research Amphibious Buggy, or CRAB, for instance, will play a key role in the beach replenishment project. Moving along both in the water and on land, it deploys instruments on the bottom of the ocean, collecting data to monitor the progress of the project. It also surveys the beaches.
Sea Isle is the last of three towns – Ocean City and Strathmere were the other two – to have their storm-damaged beaches restored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in what was originally a $33.7 million project.
However, an extra $5 million worth of sand will be added in Sea Isle after additional federal funding became available in recent weeks, Army Corps spokesman Steve Rochette said Monday.
“In general, we typically have options in all of our contracts which enable us to increase the sand quantity based on available funding and the existing conditions of beaches as determined by surveys,” Rochette said in an email.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio called the extra $5 million worth of sand “a great boon for Sea Isle.”
He said the extra sand would be enough to fill about 50 football fields 4 feet deep.
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., the contractor hired by the Army Corps to perform the beachfill work, is expected to begin the project this week, perhaps as early as Tuesday.
The project is expected to be completed in time for Memorial Day weekend, the traditional kickoff for the busy summer tourism season at the Jersey Shore.
A large, barge-like dredge anchored offshore will take sand from the bottom of the ocean and pump it onto the beaches through a network of massive pipes.
According to plans, 252,000 cubic yards of new sand will be spread on the beach in central Sea Isle from about 29th Street to 53rd street.
Originally, the project also called for 388,000 cubic yards of beach sand in the south end of the island from about 73rd Street to Townsends Inlet at 94th Street.
However, the $5 million worth of new sand will add an extra 292,000 cubic yards to the south end for a total of 680,000 cubic yards in this area, Rochette said.
The extra sand will primarily be used to widen the beach even more toward the ocean, he noted.
As part of the project, the eroded dunes in certain areas will also be replenished. The dunes in some spots of the south end have suffered significant damage, leaving steep mini-cliffs towering about 10 to 20 feet high.
Wider beaches will create an even larger barrier of sand to protect homes, businesses and other property during coastal storms. The project will also have the aesthetic value of making the beaches more attractive for the legions of tourists who visit Sea Isle in the summer.
Sea Isle and other Jersey Shore towns have their beaches restored periodically under a 50-year program with the federal government. Desiderio spoke of the importance of beach replenishment in his annual State of the City address on March 12.
“I realize that some people have concerns with the dynamic nature of beach replenishment and its vulnerability to erosion, but decades of experience along our coasts have shown the tremendous benefits of being part of the federal 50-year program,” he said. “We only need to look at our neighbors to the north and south who have been part of the program for over 30 years – Ocean City and Cape May – to see the realized potential of these projects.”
He pledged that Sea Isle will continue to work in an environmentally responsible manner with nature to ensure “the continued viability of our most precious natural resource – our beaches.”
