Posted on March 17, 2025
SOUTHEASTERN N.C. (WECT) – Over the past winter, three separate beach towns had to postpone beach renourishment projects because of sky-high bids.
In Kure Beach, the cost of the bid was almost more than double what they anticipated. Town leaders expected for the project to cost $19.6 million, but the bid came back at $37.5 million.
In Carolina Beach, Mayor Lynn Barbee said they went through a similar situation, writing in a Facebook post in December 2024:
“The only bid for 2025 beach nourishment was nearly double the government estimate. This will mean that beach nourishment will not occur before November 2025. The Army will rebid the project.”
In Oak Island, town council also chose to postpone the project for a year following high bids from dredging companies.
Dave Connolly, the Chief of Public Affairs for the US Army Corps of Engineers, told WECT in a phone call that it’s an issue of too many beach nourishment projects and not enough dredging companies. This stark difference between supply and demand is what’s leading to those expensive bids.
Another concern that’s been new to 2025 is potential funding cuts. Because these projects are expensive, several beach towns rely on federal funding or grants to pay for the projects. However, the Trump Administration has said it is prioritizing cutting back on government spending and has announced a variety of funding cuts to different agencies. Some of those have impacted North Carolina, with local USAID workers losing their jobs and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Replacement project being put on pause.
Federal funding has been vital to several beach renourishment projects in the past. Most recently, the federal government gave Wrightsville Beach a $21.6 million boost towards its renourishment project.
WECT asked Connolly if any of the federal funding freezes have impacted beach renourishment so far. He told us in a statement that none of the federal funding freezes or cuts have impacted their beach renourishment projects so far.
“All of our current projects with federal funding we previously secured are still in the works. There are no immediate impacts. We will have to adapt and be flexible with whatever orders and new policies come down.”
There are a few renourishment projects in the Cape Fear region that are currently ongoing.
Surf City has a dredging project that’s expected to be completed by the end of March. This project is being paid for with state and local funding. However, the town has a much larger beach renourishment project coming up later this year. 65% of the beach renourishment project’s funding is supposed to come from the federal government.
Bald Head Island is also in the middle of a beach renourishment project. This project is also being partially funded by the federal government, with $4.5 million coming from them.
