Beach Nourishment 2017 at the Outer Banks
Beach nourishment 2017 projects at the Outer Banks. There are several areas of beach nourishment taking place at various locations at the Outer Banks. Here is some information about those projects, the locations, when the projects start, how long they are estimated to take place and just what beach nourishment means. In all there will be 11 miles of beaches in Dare County at the Outer Banks that will be widened. After several years of storms, nor’easters and hurricanes many beaches along the North Carolina Outer Banks have suffered from severe erosion. This has caused many beaches to become very narrow with very little if any beach area. Some homes and hotels are now at the very edge of the surf. These beach nourishment 2017 projects are taking place this summer. Some projects have already begun.
What Is Beach Nourishment?
The Dare County website states “Beach nourishment is the process of pumping sand onto an eroding shoreline to widen the existing beach. Sources of sand may include a nearby sandbar, a dredged source such as an inlet or waterway, or an offshore borrow site along the ocean floor. The widened shoreline provides increased defense from coastal storms and beach erosion protecting property, communities and infrastructure located along the shoreline.”
There will be two and sometimes three dredges working to pump sand onto the beach. The beach nourishment project in Duck is currently underway and will last until mid to late July or about 45 days. There are two separate beach nourishment projects:to the north between approximately 129 Acorn Ave. and 125 Sea Tern Dr. and the south between 163 Bufflehead Rd. and 119 Spindrift Lane. Last week bad weather and rough seas slowed down the progress.
Kill Devil Hills will be the next project location. It will take about 40 days to widen the 2.6 miles of beach in Kill Devil Hills. The project includes from the Kitty Hawk town line to Prospect Avenue. The setting up of equipment has already begun with the Helga Street beach access being used as the staging area. Next week the subline (a large steel pipe) will be installed. The subline leads offshore to where the dredges hook-up and pump sand onto the beach to make the beaches wider.
Buxton on Hatteras Island is also getting a beach nourishment project. It is to start Wednesday June 14, 2017 The company has already started installing the subline about 1,000 feet north of the village boundary. Their dredge is expected to arrive by Monday June 12 with sand pumping starting on June 15. The project will first work toward the northern boundary of the project off the Haulover. Once completed the project when then move back to the initial starting location and go south until the resource protection area is no longer in place and work will then resume to the north. After work is completed to the northern project boundary, work will resume to the south until the project is completed. The entire project is expected to take about 90 days.
The beach nourishment project in Southern Shores is still to be determined but once started it will only take 7 days to complete. This will widen 2,500 feet of shoreline, from the Kitty Hawk town line to 44 Ocean Boulevard. The beach nourishment project for Kitty Hawk is still to be announced but once started it will take about 74 days. From Southern Shores to Kill Devil Hills town lines the beach nourishment project is 3.58 miles of shoreline that will be widened.
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