Stone Harbor Representatives attended the Weekly progress meeting with state and federal officials, and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company on May 11th.  There has been significant progress with the beach fill, with the construction zone centered on the 20th Street beach in Avalon this morning. 

Over 830,000 cubic yards of sand have been placed on the beach with only 100,000 cubic yards remaining in this main area of the project.  The dredge “Texas” will continue to work through the day on Thursday and until Friday at 12 Noon.  At that time, the “Texas” will leave Townsend’s Inlet for safe harbor in Cape May due to the approaching coastal storm that is expected to produce unsafe 10-foot seas in the Inlet.  While the “Texas” is in safe harbor, various repairs will be made on the dredge.  The “Texas” is expected to return to the Inlet Monday afternoon/evening and begin pumping sand again Monday evening/early Tuesday morning.

There are only two and a half days of pumping remaining for the “Texas” once it leaves Avalon on Friday.  The area of the beach fill from 20th Street south to 30th Street is much thinner than the northern limits of the project meaning production rate should be much quicker.  It is anticipated that this portion of the project will conclude on or about May 17th. 

 Once the “Texas” is finished with this portion of the beach fill, it will remain in Townsend’s Inlet for the final stage of the project, an FCCE beach fill that will include the southernmost three blocks of beach in Avalon in the hotel district, and the northern Stone Harbor beaches up to 105th Street.  There will be no pipe extending along the Avalon beach front as a second, submerged pipe is in place to run offshore and pump sand onto the southern Avalon/northern Stone Harbor beaches.  The landing zone for that dredge pipe will be on 84th Street in Stone Harbor.

The Avalon portion of that project will be done first, and should take only a day or two to complete.  It is anticipated that it will be conducted on or about May 18th-20th, depending on weather conditions.  During that time, the three blocks of Avalon beach where work will be done will be closed for safety reasons.  As soon as the Avalon beach is done between 77th and 80th Street, the pipe is removed from the beach, and the beach fill continues in a southerly direction through northern Stone Harbor.  95% of that sub line pipe has already been placed in the Atlantic Ocean by Great Lakes, so the down time between the Avalon project and the FCCE project will be a day, or less.  There will be 23 dredging days for the FCCE portion of the project with only two of those days at the start, in Avalon.