$7.6 Million Contract Awarded for Cape May Beach Replenishment Project

In 2017, USACE completed periodic nourishment of the Cape May to Lower Township project (photo from February of 2017). Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District has awarded a $7.6 million contract to the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company of Illinois for beach replenishment in Cape May.

Around 240,000 cubic yards of sand will be used for the Cape May Inlet to Lower Township (Cape May City) Coastal Storm Risk Management project. The sand will be taken from an area about 2.6 miles south of the Cape May Inlet jetties.

In 2013, USACE completed periodic nourishment of the Cape May to Lower Township project. Sand is pumped through a basket on the beach as part of a screening system. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The sand will then be pumped into beaches at two different locations, at the U.S. Coast Guard Train Center south of the jetty, and between Brooklyn Ave and north/east of Wilmington Ave, in Cape May City.

The sand will then be put into an engineered template, which is designed to reduce damages from coastal storm events. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company is expected to begin dredging and beach fill operations in the fall of 2019.

The project is a joint effort of the Army Corps’ Philadelphia District, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Coast Guard will fund approximately 90 percent of the cost while the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will but 10 percent of the costs.

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