ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL — U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, announces the completion of beach fill operations for the St. Johns County, Florida, Shore Protection Project in St. Augustine Beach.
The dredging contractor will now complete beach tilling and demobilization from the Pope Road staging and access area. The 100 percent federally funded renourishment placed approximately 2.5 million cubic yards of sand on 3 miles of critically eroded areas of St. Augustine Beach and Anastasia State Park.
Jacksonville District would like to thank its non-federal sponsor, St. Johns County, as well as the City of St. Augustine Beach, Anastasia State Park, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, its dredging contractor and subcontractors, and the many federal and state agencies that helped make this project possible.
The district also recognizes its team of sea turtle nest relocation experts and shorebird monitors, beach lifeguards, and local police, fire, and rescue personnel.
Renourished beaches such as St. Augustine help to reduce damages from major storm events, nor’easters, and future sea level rise to adjacent upland properties including homes, businesses, critical facilities, and State Road A1A.
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The restored beach also provides significant economic benefits to the local economy and state of Florida in addition to acres of critical nesting habitat for threatened and endangered sea turtles, shorebirds, and the Anastasia Beach mouse.
Refilling the beach template near the pier, as mentioned before, will provide an additional buffer between the upland infrastructure and the ocean to help dissipate wave energy and provide the intended coastal storm risk management benefits until the next planned renourishment, which is planned every five years or sooner, depending on future storm intensity.
The design intent of placing an extra-wide beach near the pier allows waves and currents to quickly reshape the fill by transporting sand from the dry beach and depositing it below the waterline and to the adjacent beaches north and south.
The adjustment of the beach to a more natural “equilibrated” shape may appear to dramatically decrease the beach width, but the project is operating as designed. The equilibration process will begin immediately upon completion, with full adjustment typically requiring many months or multiple significant wave events to evolve. Once the beach has reached an equilibrium condition, the beach is expected to recede at a slower rate.
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St. Johns County will now assume day-to-day operation and maintenance of the completed project, including annual monitoring to determine when the next renourishment is needed.
