Starting in mid-April, St. Lucie County will begin placing as much as 100,000 cubic yards of sand on the beach immediately south of the Fort Pierce Inlet to combat the severe erosion that has occurred there.
According to the county, the sand is being provided through an agreement with the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND), which is currently working on a maintenance dredging project within the Intracoastal Waterway.
FIND is donating the beach-quality sand to St. Lucie County, reducing its costs to haul the material to FIND’s storage site, while saving the county from spending funds to have sand trucked or shipped from offshore.
The county reported that contractors have already begun mobilizing equipment, materials and machinery to the Fort Pierce Beach area. The pumping of sand on the beach immediately south of the Fort Pierce Inlet is expected to begin in mid-April with all operations on the beach to be completed before May 31.
Due to the short time frame, crews will be pumping sand 24 hours a day; seven days a week to avoid negatively impacting sea turtle nesting in that area.
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