Posted on May 15, 2019
The Rockaway Beach bummer is over.
A closed stretch of Rockaway Beach will reopen with the rest of the sandy shore when the summer season begins later this month, Mayor de Blasio announced.
“For New Yorkers, Rockaway Beach is synonymous with summer,” de Blasio said. “That’s why I could not be happier to announce we will have the entire beach open in time for Memorial Day weekend.”
The strip between Beach 92 and Beach 103 Sts. is expected to be completely replenished with dredged sand by the beginning of next week as part of a $13.4 million city and federal project.
The area has been closed since 2018 after the beaches lost sand from heavy erosion following back-to-back nor’easters.
Rockaway Beach is pictured in May 2018 when it was closed from Beach 91st Street to Beach 102 Street due to extreme sand erosion. (Debbie Egan-Chin/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
A dune added to protect against storms after Hurricane Sandy also shrunk the beach, making it too small for visitors to sunbathe safely. Parks officials said that, coupled with the loss of sand from erosion made it impossible to position lifeguards where they can watch over crowds.
The city reopened a smaller, two-block stretch between Beach 96 and Beach 98 Sts. last June when the closures prompted outrage from locals worried about the local economy.
To replenish the rest of the shrinking beach, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers paid a company $10.7 million to dredge some 348,000 cubic yards of sand from the East Rockaway Inlet Federal Navigation Channel, allowing safer passage for vessels.
The city Parks Department put up another $2.7 million to pump that sand two and half miles west to restore the beaches. Dredging and pumping began April 14.
“Our crews worked 24/7 to get this project done because it’s vital to the residents of this community,” said Col. Thomas Asbery of the Army Corps New York district. The project “will provide coastal storm risk reduction benefits and increase resiliency in advance of the Atlantic hurricane season,” Asbery said.
“Getting tons of sand onto Rockaway Beach in time for summer — and avoid a repeat disaster of prime time beach closures — required every level of government to dig in deep,” U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said. “To quote those bards from Queens, the Ramones: It’s not hard, not far to reach. We can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach.”
Rockaway and other city beaches will re-open to swimming on May 25.
Source: nydailynews.com
