Avalon Beachfill to Conclude This Week

AVALON — Avalon officials learned Mon., June 21st that the emergency beach fill project in the community will be completed before the weekend of June 26-27th.
Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company has been working ahead of schedule due to favorable weather and no mechanical interruptions. Sand will be pumped onto Avalon’s beaches until Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. All mechanical equipment will be removed from Avalon’s north end beaches by Saturday afternoon, June 26th, if the project remains on schedule.
As of Mon,, June 21st, new sand was being pumped onto the Avalon beachfront between 19th and 21st Streets. On Monday, all beaches from 22nd Street south were open and accessible to the public.
Beach blocks between 22nd and 26th Streets are expected to be closed as the project continues to move south during the middle part of this week. Beaches between 9th Street and 15th Street have already been pumped, and re-opened to the public for use. More beach blocks will reopen as the project concludes over the next 72 hours.
Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company will remove all of the heavy equipment and pipes from the Avalon beachfront after the 26th Street beach is pumped with new sand. It should take approximately two days to remove all of the equipment from Avalon’s north end beaches.
Avalon and Sea Isle City entered into a joint emergency beach fill project earlier this year to re-nourish beaches that were devastated by repeated nor’easter storms during the Fall/Winter 2009-’10 storm season. Avalon will receive 600,000 cubic yards of new sand for the north end beaches between 9th Street and 26th Street. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is reimbursing both communities for 75 percent of the costs associated with the beach fill project.
The dredge “Illinois” continues to pump sand from a borrow area in Townsend’s Inlet for Avalon’s beach fill project.