Manson Construction Co. will soon begin preparations for the upcoming maintenance dredging of U.S. Naval Station Kings Bay and sand placement at Fernandina Beach and Fort Clinch State Park.
According to the Army Corps’ Jacksonville District, Nassau County residents and visitors will begin seeing construction equipment and dredging pipes on Fernandina Beach around November 1 getting ready for the next scheduled maintenance dredging of the Kings Bay.
The dredging and beach renourishment at Fernandina Beach and Fort Clinch State Park will get underway in December and will last for approximately three months. The Corps also added that the works will end before March 31, which is the end of the environmental turtle window allowing hopper dredging.
“ The Fernandina Beach placement area starts just south of New York Avenue and will go as far south as Sadler Road. Contractors completed work from New York Avenue to Jasmine Avenue last year, and will start sand placement around Jasmine Avenue ,” USACE said.
The Corps estimates that the contractor will place about 340,000 cubic yards at Fernandina Beach and 170,000 cubic yards at Fort Clinch State Park, with approx 930,000 cubic yards of non-beach compatible sand between the approved nearshore disposal area and an offshore disposal site.
Sponsored by the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay and the City of Fernandina Beach, the project is critical to commercial cargo transiting the port and also to the Navy base, which shares the entrance channel.
Fernandina Beach, Nassau County, Amelia Island Tourist Development Council, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection contributed $1.6 million to the project allowing sand placement in critical areas on the beach.