Posted on December 2, 2024
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District took part in an Oct. 31 beachside press conference as it nears completion of its much-anticipated beach renourishment project in San Clemente.
The event provided project partners at the city, county, federal and congressional levels the opportunity to announce the anticipated completion of Phase 2 of the initial sand placement for the replenishment project, along with the Department of Transportation’s $100-million grant for the Orange County Transportation Authority’s Coastal Rail Resiliency Study.
U.S. Rep. Mike Levin led the press conference and invited leaders from the City of San Clemente, Orange County Transportation Authority and USACE to speak during the event. Col. Andrew Baker, LA District commander, spoke on USACE’s behalf.
The LA District’s partnership with the City of San Clemente for this project began in 2023 with the signing of the Project Partnership Agreement before Baker assumed command of the district, and construction started shortly afterward.
“This was really one of the first big projects that I worked with personally as the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Los Angeles District), and it is just such an honor to be here as we push this phase across the finish line,” Baker said. “I’m really just the spokesman up here; I’ve got a great team of about 750 people working in the Corps.”
The authorized project is the construction of the beach along the San Clemente shoreline using the replenishment of about 250,000 cubic yards of sediment every six years or so, depending on need, for the next 50 years. When work started in late 2023; however, challenges with inclement weather, dredging maintenance and reaching beach-quality material resulted in the contractor relocating to another borrow site, after which work resumed.
“It was a rocky start, literally and figuratively,” Baker said, referring to the cobblestone and gravel that contractors encountered before the relocation.
Due to time constraints, the project was split into two phases, but the contractor was able to place 114,016 cubic yards of sand on the beach before Memorial Day.
“It was a big win to get that done, given the challenges we were faced with,” Baker said. “If it wasn’t for the close partnership and coordination between the Los Angeles District team — the team I’m so lucky to be a part of — the City of San Clemente and the sheer determination of everyone involved, we wouldn’t be here getting ready to wrap it up.”
Installation of the submerged pipeline was well underway by the time the press conference started, and dredging started Nov. 6. Sand placement is anticipated to take 22 days.
“For Phase 2, we were able to reprogram about $7.4 million in federal funding, thanks to a Herculean effort from our partners and from my leadership up at South Pacific Division, for this project,” Baker said, adding this is coupled with the city’s cost share of $4 million to get the full authorized amount of sand placed on the beach to protect community members, homes, businesses and transportation infrastructure, like the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor that runs along the shore.
“I like to say in the Army Corps of Engineers we’re very lucky to have such a righteous program,” Baker said. “Our projects in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada are of great consequence because it’s such a huge portion of the American population. We affect the economy directly, we affect public safety and we’re so honored to be out here to be a part of this, and we’re so lucky to be part of such a great team.”
