Posted on August 24, 2021
Oak Island town officials have opened bids for a sand renourishment project this winter that could put more than 1-million cubic yards of sand along the strand from about Middleton Avenue to nearly the western end of the beach. The $23.4-million project, if accepted, is intended to replace losses from Hurricane Florence.
The apparent low bidder was Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, which would pull sand from Jay Bird Shoals with a hopper dredge and then pump it along the west beach. The price is well above earlier estimates ($18-million) and also higher than the latest prediction by the town’s contract engineers ($21.7-million). Another contractor’s bid was more than $3-million higher.
The town’s portion of the costs is not certain, but was estimated earlier this year at about $9-million by a financial consultant.
The west parts of the beach have only a temporary pushed dune. Along most stretches, there is no dry sand beach at high or near-high tide. The town wants beachgoers to stay off the pushed dune, but unless they chose to go in the water there’s nowhere else to go for hours every day.
Engineers said Tuesday that the proposal has a state permit but lacks permission from federal environmental regulators. That permit is expected by the end of August, according to a spokeswoman from Moffatt & Nichol.
If the project moves forward, work would start in November or later, after the end of the sea turtle nesting season.
