Posted on April 20, 2026
North Myrtle Beach has commenced dunes restoration in the north section of Cherry Grove near Inlet Point.
There was an abundance of sand left over from the 2025 dredging project and that sand is now being put to use.
“It’s great,” said North Myrtle Beach Mayor J. Baldwin. “We had a lot of sand left over from the dredging of the canals. It’s good sand, beach-quality sand.”
Huge piles of sand were on the dune line area all the way to Cherry Grove Pier on Thursday, April 16. Tractors were shaping sand while beachgoers hung out closer to the water during low tide during the afternoon. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the May, right before the busiest tourist season.
A lengthy process is involved with producing the beach sand. The sand from the dredging project was taken a spoils basin owned by Horry County and permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the end of Little River Neck Road.
“The spoils basin is used to filter out the sand, the beach-quality sand from the other material,” said North Myrtle Beach City Manager Ryan Fabbri. “It takes about eight months for the process to take place. That’s where we are right now.”
Once the sand is ready, it is trucked to the beach for projects like the dune restoration.
The $72 million Army Corps of Engineers beach renourishment project for the Grand Strand, that was completed in North Myrtle Beach this past winter, did not include the area north of 60th Avenue.
“They determined the area was OK,” Baldwin said. “Looking at it, certainly it didn’t look OK.”
Baldwin met with Army Corps of Engineers officials on the section of beach not included in the beach renourishment. At that point, the work had progressed well down the beach and the cost to remobilize would have been “astronomical.”
“We just reached an agreement that we would bring in sand and help fill that spot,” Baldwin said. “Next time, they would make sure that they didn’t miss that.”
