Posted on April 25, 2022
PLYMOUTH – A $25.2 million infusion of federal money will fund long-overdue repairs to the backbone of Plymouth’s barrier beach and allow the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild thousands of feet of the stone dike that has stabilized Plymouth’s Long Beach for more than a century.
The work, not scheduled to begin until at least next year, will ensure continued recreational access for the people who throng to the sandy beach each summer, officials said. Perhaps more importantly, the repairs will rescue crumbling sections of the sea wall that provides vital protection for the downtown waterfront.
About 2,350 feet of the dike will be rebuilt near the middle of the 3-mile beach, in the area known as Day Parking. It will extend from just south of Day Parking, where repairs were completed in 1971, to the crossover in the north.
As a result of coastal storms, this section of the dike has been compromised and does not provide protection from washover at high tide. On calm days, water can fill the parking area. During nor’easters, visitors to Stephens Field on the downtown waterfront can look out and see waves crashing over the beach.
The section is home to two summer cottages, which have suffered nature’s fury in recent years. Erosion has exposed the top of a septic system at one of the cottages. New siding on a cottage shed marks the height of the ocean’s surge after recent storms washed directly over the beach and into the harbor.
David Gould, the town’s director of marine and environmental affairs, said federal, state and local officials have been working on the proposal.
Gould said the dike not only protects the beach but safeguards the town’s waterfront and will provide protection against rising sea levels.
“I think it not only protects the long-term access of people to go to the beach, but it will stabilize that portion of the beach and continue to protect downtown Plymouth from storms and damage that occurs every fall, winter and spring,” he said. “It does a lot for natural habitat and recreation, but the storm damage protection for downtown Plymouth is really priceless.”
The town is repairing winter damage in the Day Parking area with sand and cobblestone to prevent washovers, but the work is an expensive Band-Aid approach.
The $25.2 million for the restoration project is an appropriation to the Army Corps, which means the town will not manage the money or have any say in how it is used. The Army Corps will put the project out to bid once design work is complete.
History of the Plymouth Beach dike
The dike was built in 1901, three years after the Portland Gale of 1898 flattened the beach, destroying the beach pavilion at the point. It consists of a nearly 3-mile rock wall, with stone aprons in front and back to prevent against erosion.
Time and tide have taken a regular toll, with the southern portion of the beach taking the biggest hit from erosion. The northern end, closest to the point, is subject to a buildup of sand over time.
The town rebuilt the southern end of the dike to just below Day Parking in 1971. Plymouth has been working on plans to continue the repairs to the crossover since the mid-1990s, when the state required a beach nourishment project to reduce the erosion caused by the dike.
When the Army Corps, which owns the dike, refused, the town approved borrowing $3 million for beach nourishment, but the project still languished.
In the early 2000s, the Army Corps reconsidered and the project was moving through the permitting process when several property owners on the beach appealed permits for the work. When the town decided not to fight the appeals, the Army Corps once again stepped back. Gould said the town plans to fight any resident opposition, if it comes up, this time around.
Years later, the town resumed conversations with the Army Corps and started to update plans. Over the last four years, local officials have worked with the Army Corps on gathering data and designing plans, while advocating for money. The effort included working with U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., to secure funding for the recent dredging of Plymouth Harbor.
This year’s federal budget included $300,000 to complete engineering and permitting. The federal legislative delegation announced the $25.2 million appropriation last week.
