Avalon Expects to Complete Sand Back Passing Project by April 30th

Avalon 11th Street beach on Thursday, April 25th. Photo courtest of Avalon Business Administrator Scott Wahl.

Avalon is expecting to complete a sand back passing project later this week in advance of the start of the storm and tourism seasons.

The sand back project is expected to be finished on Tuesday, April 30th, and will restore beaches in the northern end of Avalon that was compromised during the winter.

“This project was conducted by the Avalon Department of Public Works with rented equipment, and completed ahead of time and under budget”, Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi said. “Avalon was the first beach community in New Jersey to commit to sand back passing projects as a way to bridge the gap between hydraulic beach fill projects.  This allows the Borough to restore beaches on our schedule, with our manpower, to produce the highest level of efficiency possible.”

About 55,000 cubic yards of sand was backed passed from the central part of Avalon to the blocks of 9th through 15th streets.

The sand back passing project results in sand being removed from a permitted borrow area south of the Avalon Fishing Pier below the high water mark. The wet sand is methodically scraped and trucked to the north end beaches, then graded to an engineered template. The back passing project results in no dry upland sand removed from the borrow area. During a spring back passing project, new sand is replenished in the borrow area on nearly a daily basis result in marginal overall sand loss.

The Avalon Department of Public Works will stockpile a small quantity of sand on north end beaches that will be graded out before Memorial Day weekend in the event a spring storm occurs in May. Public Works will also conduct a final grade and smoothing of sand in the borrow area before Memorial Day.