Posted on February 28, 2024
The Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began equipment mobilization Feb. 22 for the re-nourishment of the St. Johns County, St. Augustine Beach, federal shore protection project. The USACE contractor began establishing a staging area at the Pope Road access point and will continue deploying equipment in the week ahead. Beach placement of dredged sand is expected to start in early March.
The re-nourishment will place approximately 2.5 million cubic yards of sand on critically eroded beaches within the city of St. Augustine Beach, extending three miles from Anastasia State Park at the north to the vicinity of A Street at the southern end of the shoreline.
Placement will proceed from north to south. Jacksonville District will post work schedules and progress maps on this page and via its social media channels as the work progresses.
The $33 million contract, to be executed by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, is 100 percent federally funded with Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies monies. The renourishment is projected to be complete by the end of June, weather permitting.
Initial construction of the 3-mile project was completed in January 2003. Since then the project has been renourished approximately every five years or following significant hurricane events. The Jacksonville District shares a strong partnership with St. Johns County, the non-federal sponsor for this project along with many others to protect eroded beaches along the county’s coastline.
Federal Shore Protection Project at St. Augustine Beach, St. Johns Co., Florida
The ocean shoreline of St. Johns County is approximately 42 miles long. The St. Johns County Shore Protection Project for St. Augustine Beach will renourish eroded shoreline between the southern limits of Anastasia State Park to a point 3.9 miles south of St. Augustine Inlet.
The purpose of the project is to mitigate for down-drift shoreline impacts caused by the Federal navigation channel at St. Augustine Inlet, and provide storm damage reduction for upland development. The cost sharing for this project is 80.5 percent federal and 19.5 percent non-federal, due to impacts of the federal navigation channel to the downdrift beach. The renourishment cycle for the project is every 5 years.
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The next beach re-nourishment, which will address the 2022 impact of Tropical Storms Ian and Nicole, will be 100 percent funded by the federal government under a Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies authority. Jacksonville District plans to complete all permitting coordination with its partner agencies by Feb. 10, 2023 and award a contract for the project in autumn 2023.
Beach re-nourishment is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024.
