Posted on August 13, 2025
Recently recognized as one of America’s Best Restored Beaches in 2025, by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA), the Canaveral Sand Bypass project (CSB) in Brevard County, was lauded for effective management of an entire coastal system that supports wildlife, national security, space operations, commerce, tourism, and recreation, while simultaneously demonstrating how multiple entities (public, private, military) can work together in providing innovative solutions to the complex problem set often plaguing delicate coastal ecosystems and their surrounding communities.
In the organization’s own words, the ASBPA’s goal in awarding the annual Best Restored Beach honor is to acknowledge community beach restoration projects around the United States. These projects should increase a shoreline’s resiliency, the beach’s ability to mitigate storm damage and flooding from severe storms, and naturally allow the beach to adjust to short-term sea level rise while remaining an important part of the nearshore ecosystem. The ASBPA created the awards in 2002 to raise awareness on the significant value of a restored beach to local communities.
Per the ASBPA, projects are judged on three criteria: the economic and ecological benefits the beach brings to its community; short- and long-term success of the restoration project; and the challenges each community overcame during the project.
Led by Jacksonville District senior project manager, Chris Ren, the CSB dredged and bypassed approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from the shoreline immediately north of Port Canaveral and placed it along critically eroded shoreline in the cities of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach. Ren’s team engineered this innovative way of executing the project, resulting in the largest bypassing to date both in terms of amount of sand and length of shoreline being renourished.
The team maximized the amount of sand that can be bypassed, thereby reducing the shoaling impacts to deep draft navigation at the Port, and providing beach quality sand for the beaches where it was most needed. Remaining sand has been saved in offshore borrow areas for future use in renourishing the Brevard Mid Reach and South Reach projects, extending the useable life of these limited offshore sand sources.
“The Canaveral Harbor Sand Bypass Project Delivery Team (PDT) coordinated with a multitude of stakeholders during the final month of construction, to include daily coordination with the prime contractor, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, the U.S. Space Force at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ensuring dredging operations did not interfere with space vehicle launch activities, and that the Canaveral Port Authority’s harbor pilots were able to synchronize dredging operations with commercial vessel traffic,” noted Chris Ren, senior project manager.
The PDT carefully and proactively monitored dredging production to determine if a one-time permit extension would be needed to finish beach construction during the month of May when it is normally prohibited due to nesting sea turtles. Once the decision was made to submit the permit extension request to the Florida Department of Environment Protection (FDEP), the team skillfully managed the permitting process, securing a one-time extension to allow beach construction to continue past May, when work would have typically needed to come to a stop.
“This was achieved through rapid and efficient communication with FDEP, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission, and marine turtle monitors at both the dredge area and beach placement area, ensuring consensus and minimizing environmental impact,” noted Ren.
Through years of planning and preparation, the PDT developed, implemented, and completed a more cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable strategy that maximized the amount of bypassed sand and length of shoreline restored. This approach not only reduced shoaling impacts to deep-draft navigation at the Port and provided high-quality sand for shoreline restoration but also conserved remaining sand in offshore borrow areas for future renourishment projects.
The team worked diligently with a multitude of stakeholders and entities to ensure the project delivered on its goal of bypassing 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from the nearshore north of Port Canaveral to the beaches south.
“We’ve been through a lot, the thick and the thin, [throughout the project] but team-work makes the dream work!” said Ren with a humble smile. “I’m proud to serve alongside the Best PDT In The World”.
The Canaveral Sand Bypass project was one of four restored beaches in the United States that was recognized by the ASBPA this year. According to the non-profit, beaches are the leading tourist attraction in the U.S. serving as a vacation destination for 50% of Americans. Annually, beach tourists generate $520 billion in economic output, $240 billion in direct spending, and $36 billion in taxes to federal, state, and local governments.
