Posted on April 27, 2020
GRAND HAVEN, MI – Grand Haven beach-goers will be able to enjoy twice as much beach this summer after the completion of a beach nourishment project funded by the federal government.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to replenish sand along the beach of Grand Haven State Park next month after finishing an annual maintenance dredging of the channel in Grand Haven, taking clean sand from the harbor and placing it on the shoreline.
The beach nourishment project is meant to protect the state park from erosion by placing freshly dredged sand from the channel onto the beach, said Chris Schropp, Lake Michigan Chief of Construction for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
While there’s currently about 100 feet of sand between the campsite and the waterline, the newly placed sand is expected to double the size of the beach, adding over 200,000 square feet of sand to the beach, he said.
“It will add a lot more beach for people to use, as well as it will protect the state parks infrastructure and camp sites from being eroded,” Schropp said.
Popular beaches along the coast of Lake Michigan have shrunk into the surf over the past year due to erosion from high-water levels, leaving many West Michigan cities considering costly projects to save their beaches.
The city of South Haven is considering more than $16 million worth of work to address shoreline impacts, including up to an estimated $1 million for efforts to keep the beaches in good shape for summer use.
The annual Grand Haven beach nourishment project is funded by the federal government, meaning the city won’t have to break the bank to keep its beach in good shape. The project costs about $370,000, Schropp said.
Because engineers are re-using the sand from the dredging of the channel to replenish the beach, the project is a win-win situation for the city of Grand Haven and U.S. Army Corp, Schropp said.
“This beneficial re-use is kind of two-fold,” he said. “It saves the federal government money, which is taxpayer money, to be able just to place the sand onto the beach, and then the second part is that it actually replenishes and protects the beach, so that there’s a re-use rather than it going into a containment facility or even a landfill.”
Engineers plan to dredge about 38,000 cubic yards from the channel, Schropp said, and will lay the freshly-pulled sand starting at the Grand Haven South Pierhead and extend about 2,000-3,000 feet south.
The beach nourishment project will be conducted by King Co., Inc., a Holland-based contractor, Schropp said. Dredging is expected to begin next week, and will be completed by the end of May, leaving the beach ready for use as summer hits.
Source: mlive
