Posted on April 24, 2018
By Amanda Auble, Atlantic County
After a monthslong project that reshaped the coastline and briefly led to flooding on Margate’s beaches, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beach and dune work on Absecon Island is scheduled to wrap up by the end of April.
The $63 million project was implemented to fulfill former Gov. Chris Christie’s pledge to construct a system of engineered beaches and dunes to reduce flooding and coastal storm damage in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
Starting in May 2017, Weeks Marine moved across Ventnor, Margate and Longport in 1,000-foot segments, adding dunes with an elevation of 12.75 feet and extending the beach 100 feet. Atlantic City’s dunes were built to an elevation of nearly 15 feet above sea level, and its beach was extended 200 feet.
As the snow melts into spring, Downbeach business owners and real estate professionals are gearing up for a summer they hope will be better than last year, when the construction of the dune and subsequent ponding of rainwater scared away visitors, they said.
By the end of April, the 16th Avenue dune is expected to be complete, with a pedestrian walkway, newly planted grass and wooden fencing.
Steve Brown, vice president of the Longport Seaview Condominium Association, looks forward to the construction finishing up.
“Now that it’s coming to an end, there’s general relief and an overall concession that, hey, it’s not so bad,” Brown said.
Margate resident Chuck Cavanaugh believes the project, which he refers to as the “duneboggle,” has resulted in a drastic reconfiguration of what he’s known growing up.
“The dunes actually bisect the beach. They don’t run along a natural or any man-made barrier like a boardwalk or the street ends,” Cavanaugh said. “It just makes it even worse when you cross over the bulkhead, but you’re not on the beach.”
Longport Mayor Nick Russo didn’t disagree.
“Is there anything nicer than a flat beach to look at?” Russo said. “No, there’s nothing nicer than that.”
However, Russo believes the new beach will protect the borough.
Certified floodplain manager and lifelong Longport resident Sean O’Leary is more concerned with long-term protection.
“In the long run it’s going to end up helping us,” O’Leary said.
Former Longport Fire Department and Beach Patrol Capt. Patrick Armstrong questioned whether the sand will hold, especially toward the point.
“I personally have always felt that the best way to protect Absecon Island and Longport was just to extend the 11th Avenue jetty,” Armstrong wrote.
Resident Joe DiLorenzo said his concerns are whether the project will last for the long term.
“We’re just hoping that the sand that they’re pumping onto the beach holds,” DiLorenzo said.
Once the construction materials are lifted from 16th Avenue and the remaining Longport beaches, Army Corps Public Affairs Officer Steve Rochette said the project will be finished on Absecon Island. The dredge will then move to another project in northern Ocean County.
“It’s here. Let’s embrace them, and let’s move forward. Talking about them and worrying about them isn’t going to help anybody,” DiLorenzo said. “So let’s make the best of it.”
Source: Atlantic County
