JACKSONVILLE, FL — U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Jacksonville District, awarded a $40.6 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, LLC., of Houston, Texas, for the sixth iteration of the Canaveral Harbor Sand Bypass project.

USACE will provide 100 percent of the total funding to dredge and bypass approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from the shoreline immediately north of Port Canaveral for placement along two segments of critically eroded shoreline in Brevard County, Florida. The first segment runs along approximately 3.3 miles of shoreline starting just south of Jetty Park in the City of Cape Canaveral to about Shepard Park in the City of Cocoa Beach. The second segment runs along approximately 3.7 miles of shoreline from just south of Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach to the northern border of Patrick Space Force Base.

Work on the beach is expected to be completed by April 30, 2025, to ensure all equipment is off the beach before the start of the next sea turtle nesting season. To ensure public safety, beach access will be restricted in the active construction zone (typically 500- to 1,500-foot-long sections), but will remain open elsewhere along the beach. Sand ramps will be placed over shoreline pipelines approximately every 200 to 300 feet to ease beachgoer access to the water.

The Canaveral Harbor Sand Bypass project is a federally authorized project designed to mitigate for downdrift erosion damages caused by the Canaveral Harbor Federal navigation project. Previous bypassing efforts were completed in 1995, 1998, 2007, 2010, and 2019, which pumped a combined total of over 4.7 million cubic yards of sand onto Brevard County beaches.

The USACE-led project will be executed in partnership with the non-federal sponsor, Canaveral Port Authority, Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department, their coastal engineering consultant Foth/Olsen, and U.S. Space Force Space Launch Delta 45 to ensure the project is delivered efficiently, safely, and on schedule.