Posted on June 16, 2021
SARASOTA, Fla. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District, Sarasota City officials and local beach lovers gathered to celebrate the completion of the district’s Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction project at Lido Beach May 27, 2021.
With parts of Lido Beach eroding over time, the Corps partnered with the city of Sarasota and began pumping recycled sand onto Lido Key last spring.
“What we see is a real win, win. Whenever we can make beneficial use of sand that is already existing without going so far out that is always a great thing,” said Lt. Col. Todd Polk, deputy district commander for South Florida. “This dredged sand is about a mile and a half long and the length of a full football field wide.”
The project pumped nearly 700,000 cubic yards of sand onto a 1.56-mile stretch of Lido Key, extending the beach’s width by an average of nearly 300 feet. The reinforced shoreline reaches from the north public beach access to Ted Sperling Park.
Two large groins made of nearly 5,000 tons of armor stone were constructed along South Lido Beach to further reduce the effects of erosion.
The $12.68 million project was funded 62 percent by the Army Corps of Engineers, 19 percent by the state and 19 percent by the city.
Completion of the beach construction marks the start of a 50-year partnership between the city and the Army Corps of Engineers, meaning that continued renourishment of Lido Key will take place on a roughly five-year cycle to maintain the shoreline’s resilience.
“This has been a great project, a long time in the planning and with lots of challenges along the way, but I think the final construction has turned out great,” said Bryan Merrill, project manager for the Corps’ Jacksonville District.
(The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District on the district’s website at www.saj.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JacksonvilleDistrict and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/JaxStrong.
