Posted on February 23, 2026
The hottest makeover trend in the U.S. is happening on the beaches of the Gulf Coast, where crews are dumping and smoothing new sand into place, improving the health of these areas ahead of what should be a busy spring and summer.
This week, the Santa Rosa Island Authority provided an update on an extensive and multimillion-dollar beach renourishment project taking place over 8.1 miles of Pensacola Beach, Fla. Most recently, according to the SRIA, the fourth of four pipelines sending 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from the Gulf of Mexico to four beach fill areas was ready to be installed. After that, sand will begin to be placed, likely in March.
The roughly $35 million project started in late January, according to the Pensacola News Journal, and covers an area of Santa Rosa Island stretching from east of Fort Pickens to around Gulf Islands National Seashore.
When finished, possibly right before or around the peak of Spring Break at Pensacola Beach—the middle of March—it’ll be the first time in a decade the beach had received such a replenishment.
This work mirrors what had been happening for months on the West End of Galveston Island in Texas. Just this week, the Texas General Land Office and partners including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the restoration of the popular beach there. Around 378,000 cubic yards of dredge material from the Galveston Ship Channel was sent to and deposited at Hershey Beach.
At nearby Sargent Beach, workers are dredging and placing 1.07 million cubic yards of sand to address ongoing beach erosion that had been taking place for decades, exacerbated by multiple tropical storms that have hit the Texas coast in the last 15 years.
“The City of Galveston is grateful for the working relationship we have with the Texas General Land Office and Commissioner Buckingham,” Galveston City Manager Byron Maxwell said in a release Tuesday marking the end of the work at Hershey Beach.
