Posted on July 8, 2026
By Joe Brandt, Ryan Hughes, Josh Sanders
Equipment is in place on the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey, on Tuesday as a $19.5 million beach replenishment project contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gets underway.
A dredging ship operated by the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company is being moved to the area, and pipes for the sand-pumping operation were put in place Tuesday morning.
Sand-pumping operations were expected to begin Tuesday afternoon. The work will add about 1.6 million cubic yards of sand to the beach, Ocean City officials say.
Several Jersey Shore beaches have dealt with erosion after the region was battered by severe storms in the past year. In April, Shore towns received $99 million in federal funding to replenish sand that had been stripped away.
While the work is happening, about 1,000 feet (two city blocks) of beach area will be closed each day. Work is beginning in the area between First Street and Pennlyn Place, and that section was closed Tuesday.
From there, the plan is to work on additional areas moving northward to the Great Egg Harbor Inlet.
Sand pumping operations will continue 24 hours a day until the project is complete. The Army Corps believes the project should be completed by Labor Day.
Ocean City residents and visitors can sign up for updates on the beach replenishment projects at this webpage.
Some businesses say they know the city desperately needs the project, but they say it’s happening at the worst time.
“They say temporary inconvenience for permanent improvement, so it’s important,” Pete Cope, who has vacationed in Ocean City for more than 60 years, said.
Cope came to St. Charles Place on Tuesday afternoon to watch as crews began to pump about 1.6 million cubic yards of sand from the ocean onto the beach.
“This is an important beach. It’s part of an important environment and we need to help protect this town,” Cope said. “It’s been here for a long time.”
Melissa Brown’s restaurant is celebrating its 50th year open, but the beach outside the popular business will not reopen until the project is completed.
“I know we need it to protect our property. However, the timing for us isn’t so great,” Brown said. “It’s going to be tough for us. I mean, we are going to definitely lose business over it.”
The American Coastal Coalition says the work is needed now to protect the boardwalk, homes and businesses.
“It’s right before hurricane season,” Dan Ginolfi with the American Coastal Coalition said, “so this is a great time to get the protection before a major hurricane comes.”
In Strathmere, another Army Corps project is pumping 1.3 million cubic yards of sand to replenish the beach area and create a dune system to help reduce the damage caused by coastal storms.
