Posted on October 21, 2024
PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District shared an update regarding periodic nourishment for the Lower Cape Meadows-Cape May Point project in New Jersey.
In September 2024, USACE awarded a contract to Agate Construction Company, Inc. of Egg Harbor Township, NJ for $1.3 million. The contract calls for ‘backpassing’, which means sand will be excavated from areas along the beach instead of dredging the sand from offshore borrow areas or inlets. The base contract work will involve excavating approximately 88,000 cubic yards of sand from beach areas that have accumulated excess sand. This sand will then be placed at the Cove Beach area in the City of Cape May.
USACE has also awarded contract options for an additional 16,200 cubic yards of sand excavation, which will be used to create three sand islands for bird habitat in the beach area that fronts the South Cape May Meadows area. Additional contract options for sand excavation may be awarded depending on the results of beach surveys.
Redistributing sand will return the area to the design elevation and will also benefit beach nesting birds such as the piping plover and least terns. Eleven pairs of piping plovers nested in the project area after it was originally built; however piping plovers have not recently nested in the area, in part due to the lack of suitable nesting habitat.
The initial construction for the Lower Cape May Meadows-Cape May Point ecosystem restoration project was completed in 2007 and has been nourished/repaired in subsequent years. The project is a joint effort of the Army Corps’ Philadelphia District, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Borough of Cape May Point, City of Cape May, Lower Township, the Nature Conservancy, and Cape May Point State Park. Work is designed to reduce damages from coastal storm events and to protect the valuable fish and wildlife habitat that exists on the beach and in the wetlands behind the dune.
The Army Corps issued a Notice to Proceed in September with construction to follow in the fall/winter timeframe. All work will be completed before March 1, 2025.
