Posted on March 20, 2018
By Tim Buckland, StarNews Online
An extensive beach nourishment project wrapped up this week as crews finished enlarging the beach near the Holiday Inn, Town Manager Tim Owens said.
“They’ll be wrapping it up by Friday,” Owens said of the $9.4 million project, which added 750,000 cubic yards of sand to the town’s beach.
Owens said federal funds paid for 65 percent of the cost, while state funds and local room-occupancy taxes — an extra fee added to hotel stays and short-term rentals — split the rest of the tab.
Nourishment involves dredging sand from the ocean floor and placing it on beaches. For decades, local towns have relied on nourishment to combat erosion; this is the eighth such project at Wrightsville Beach in 32 years.
“Every four years, we have enough erosion that we need a project,” Owens said. “It does a lot to protect properties in the upcoming hurricane season and helps with the tourist season with a larger beach.”
With Wrightsville Beach’s project finished, the contractor, Weeks Marine, will soon begin a project in Ocean Isle Beach, Owens said.
Source: StarNews Online
