Sand Transfer Project Underway

WILDWOOD CREST – A sand transfer project expected to significantly help the beaches of both the Borough of Wildwood Crest and the City of North Wildwood has commenced and will continue through mid May.
This project includes harvesting approximately 96,000 cubic yards of sand from the front berm of the Wildwood Crest beach between Monterey and Cresse avenues and transferring the sand to the northerly beaches in North Wildwood.
The purpose of this work is two-fold – to restore the necessary gradient of the Wildwood Crest beach to avoid beach top ponding and prevent stagnant water from accumulating on the beach, as well as to stabilize and restore areas of North Wildwood’s beaches that have been damaged and eroded by recent storms. The project is expected to further delay costly extension of the ocean outfall lines in Wildwood Crest due to the annual accretion of beach sand.
The sand transfer project is being funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) via natural disaster storm declarations from Hurricane Irene in August 2011 and the Halloween storms of October 2011. There is no cost for this project to the Borough of Wildwood Crest; FEMA will reimburse the City of North Wildwood for 75 percent of the total project costs.
The contractor of this work, Mount Construction of Berlin, is required to harvest sand from south to north in Wildwood Crest in five-block increments starting at Monterrey Avenue. The work will move into the next northern five-block increment once the design grade in each harvested section is established. Mount Construction will perform this work under the supervision of Van Note-Harvey Associates, the Borough of Wildwood Crest’s engineering firm.
During this project, portions of the beach will be closed to the public due to safety precautions. The public should do its best to avoid these areas during the duration of the project. Mount Construction will be working on the beach in Wildwood Crest generally from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mon. through Fri. Weekend and after-hours work will commence only if necessary to complete the work in Wildwood Crest by mid May.
The sand transfer project has been approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) and FEMA.
For further information about the sand transfer project, contact Van Note-Harvey Engineers by phone at (609) 465-2600 or via email at jverna@vannoteharvey.com.