Local Official: Beach Replenishment Won’t Begin Until 2016 At Earliest

Jersey Shore communities will have to bear another hurricane season and winter without proper protection from coastal storms, with a federal beach replenishment project pushed back again – this time until at least spring 2016, a local official said.

Toms River Councilman George Wittmann said he and other local officials have been in contact with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection which notified them that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects the project to replenish beaches and build 22 foot-high dunes between Manasquan and Barnegat inlets will not be advertised for bids until the end of 2015. Construction work would not start until spring 2016 at the earliest.

“The state anticipates that the contract will take 600 days from the award” until completion, Wittmann said.

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