Area beaches being maintained, replenished

Projects to maintain sand on Lewes Beach near Roosevelt Inlet and replenish sand on Bethany and South Bethany beaches are under way.

Engineers are also assessing areas of Dewey and Rehoboth beaches and plan to begin pumping sand on those beaches before year’s end.

“In Lewes, it’s a little bit of a maintenance-dredging project that we do periodically going on there,” said Sarah Rivette, Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman. The corps is overseeing the projects.

Rivette said the projects are replacing sand washed away by a November 2009 nor’easter; repairing damage caused by Hurricane Irene in August; and is part of a regular five-year beach renourishment and repair program.

About 111,000 cubic yards of sand will be pumped from Roosevelt Inlet onto Lewes Beach, Rivette said. She said the $3.2 million project does two things – it clears sand from the inlet and deposits it on Lewes Beach to maintain it.

Rivette said the Lewes project is scheduled for completion by Saturday, Dec. 31.

She said on-site engineers monitor the work, checking sand consistency, ensuring proper distribution and keeping an eye out for archaeological materials.

During a 2004 maintenance project for the same area of beach, a dredge working in the bay about 2,000 feet from shore pumped archeologically significant material from the remains of a 17th century shipwreck.

During the next two weeks, equipment will be moved into place in preparation to begin pumping about 1 million cubic yards of sand to replenish Dewey and Rehoboth beaches. The project costs $16.4 million, Rivette said. She said engineers are determining the best place to deposit sand on those beaches.

Dredging is under way to pump about 1.6 million cubic yards of sand onto Bethany and South Bethany beaches, Rivette said. She said the project costs $16.4 million. Congressional appropriations pay for the projects.

Chesapeake, Va.-based Cottrell Contracting Corp., is contractor for the Lewes project, and Oak Brook, Ill-based Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. is handling the other projects.