Posted on March 2, 2017
By Helen Holt, WWAY
Since the new year, Holden Beach has been working to get their coastline into tip top shape before the upcoming tourism season.
This $15 million project called the Central Reach Project is designed to take sand from the ocean floor and pump it onto shore.
Town Manager David Hewett said dredging will add storm damage protection, create habitats and increase the recreation area.
While the area was already in need of renourishment, Hewett said they lost even more sand during Hurricane Matthew making this project a must.
“We did experience some erosion from Hurricane Matthew,” Hewett said. “We have quantified about 100,000, approximately 100,000 cubic yards of sand loss and some vegetation, damage to the dunes, that kind of thing.”
The project is expected to be done within the next two to three weeks, just in time for the tourism season but more importantly turtle season.
“In all reality, it’s the turtle season that permit windows that drives the actual dredging of the nearby areas,” Hewett said.
The town is also dredging near Lockwood Folly Inlet. It’s called the Eastern Reach Project.
The purpose is to improve navigation in the Intracoastal Waterway which should be completed by the end of March.
Hewett says this warm and relatively quiet weather has worked in their favor to getting the work done on time.
Source: WWAY
