Posted on February 21, 2022
Tybee Island’s gritty sand won’t make any travel magazine’s “best beaches” list, but each grain is an invaluable local resource — even as countless granules are washed away twice each day by our locale’s notoriously broad tide change and by the wake of container ships accessing the Savannah River en route to the Georgia Ports Authority.
This erosion is why Tybee renourishes its beaches on a semi-regular basis. The disappearing beach is why Georgia’s U.S. senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, have filed a bill that would extend federal support for the renourishments through 2074.
The current agreement, known as a federal authorization, expires in 2024. Without the extension, Tybee’s next restoration could be the last using federal dollars, funding that typically accounts for more than 60% of the total cost.
Here’s a look at Tybee’s past renourishment projects:
2014: $10.2 million
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor pumped approximately 1.3 million cubic yards of sand onto three miles of beach front from the north beach near Old Fort Screven to 18th Street, south of the public fishing pier. Federal funds covered 61% of the costs.
2008: $11 million
The curve of the beach at the north end of Butler Avenue received special attention in the renourishment after erosion had essentially cut the beach in half during high tide hours. The stretch received 700,000 of the 1.2 million cubic yards of sand pumped onto the beach. Federal funds covered 60% of the costs.
2000: $9.5 million
Tybee’s beaches added 124 feet of new sand in a renourishment that involved $1.3 million cubic yards of sand. Federal funds covered 60% of the costs.
1994
The renourishment project focused on the island’s south tip.
1987
The beach was shored up along the entirety of the Atlanta frontage from the North Beach jetty to the South Beach pier.
Renourishment projects elsewhere
Hilton Head Island
Tybee’s neighbor across the Savannah River renourished in 2016, 2006 and 1997.
St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island
Georgia’s Golden Isles do not renourish, although erosion has sparked periodic discussion about adding sand. Jekyll Island’s north end, with its exposure to the Atlantic and the Brunswick shipping channel, has seen significant erosion in recent years. The Jekyll Island Authority has tackled the issue with a rock revetment repair at the island’s northeastern tip.
Folly Beach
This seaside town at the mouth of the Charleston Harbor underwent a beach renourishment in 2014.
Jacksonville Beach
The Florida city has replenished its beaches every five to six years since 1985 to “maintain beaches at their original design”. Federal funds cover 62% of the costs.
Myrtle Beach
The South Carolina tourist mecca implemented a shore protection program in 1998. The plan splits the city’s 26 miles of coastline into three sections and provides for renourishment of the full length every decade. Federal funds cover 65% of the costs.
