Posted on May 2, 2017
By Jeff Hampton, The Virginian-Pilot
Bulldozers will rumble up and down the Outer Banks near oceanfront homes this summer as towns begin long-awaited projects to widen their beaches from Duck to Kill Devil Hills.
It could get noisy and it could be inconvenient. The whine of machinery and sand pumps could go on all night. Work lights could shine on decks. Vacationers might have to detour from the beach in front of their rental homes to open spots down the road.
But when work wraps up in the fall, spacious beaches will buffer roads and property against storms.
“It’s going to be short-term pain for long-term gain,” said Dan Hardy, president of Joe Lamb Jr. & Associates, a rental company. “We’re going to do our best to treat our visitors fairly.”
Beginning in Duck this month and working south, pumps will chug away pulling sand from offshore bars and dropping it on beaches where heavy-equipment operators will level it.
Crews will cordon off about 1,000 feet of beach at a time, finishing each section over three to five days before moving on, according to the Dare County website.
Tourists and property owners can find out when work will be going on in front of their rental houses through an interactive map and fact sheet the county provides at www.morebeachtolove.com.
The timing of where and when is unpredictable, but real estate agents will deal with discontented visitors on a case-by-case basis, said Clark Twiddy, chief administrative officer for Twiddy Realty.
“This is going to be a good thing,” Twiddy said. “We’ll have some of the most magnificent beaches in the U.S. for years to come.”
The project will replenish sand along 1.7 miles of the Duck shoreline, 2,500 feet in Southern Shores, 3.6 miles in Kitty Hawk and 2.6 miles in Kill Devil Hills. The towns are using the same contractor, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company of Oak Brook, Ill., to consolidate work. The total cost is about $40 million.
Meanwhile on Hatteras Island, a beach nourishment project in Buxton will cover 2.9 miles and cost $25 million. Work is expected to begin May 21 and end 90 days later if conditions are right, according to a release from Dare County. The contractor, Weeks Marine Inc. of Cranford, N.J., could work night and day to finish on time.
Why is the work being done during the height of the summer tourist season? Storms are more frequent during spring, fall and winter and make the offshore dredging work dangerous, according to the Dare County website.
The latest projects follow recent ones. Nags Head widened 10 miles of beach for $36 million in 2011. The state replenished 2 miles along N.C. 12 north of Rodanthe for $20.3 million in 2014.
The cost of Outer Banks beach nourishment will reach $121 million and cover about 23 miles over the last six years.
Nags Head plans to widen its beach again in 2018 or 2019 along the same 10 miles as in 2011 at a cost of about $25 million.
The shoreline will need 2.3 million cubic yards for the upcoming project, about half the amount needed in 2011 since much of the earlier sand remains, Nags Head Manager Cliff Ogburn said. The cost is more than half the total of the 2011 project because the cost of dredging sand has gone up, he said.
Source: The Virginian-Pilot
