North Myrtle Beach Nourishment Project About to Begin

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, is planning to begin a storm damage reduction (beach nourishment) project in North Myrtle Beach on May 13th, the city said in the report.

According to the officials, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, LLC will execute the project.

It will take 30-45 days to complete the federally funded project, which stretches for about 2.7 miles along the North Myrtle Beach shoreline from 22nd Avenue North to 54th Avenue North and from Ocean Creek Drive to 43rd Avenue South, the announcement said.

The project, which replaces some 280,000 cubic yards of sand eroded by Hurricane Florence, originally was to merge with last year’s Hurricane Irma beach nourishment project but delays in completing the Myrtle Beach segment pushed the North Myrtle Beach segment into spring 2019.

“This storm damage reduction project aims to minimize the impacts to people and property behind the dunes in a storm event,” said Wes Wilson, project manager. “While we acknowledge that people may see temporary inconveniences while the project is underway, the project has many long-term benefits, especially during storm season.”

The officials also stated that for the first section of the project, the contractor will access the beach from Sea Mountain Highway. The contractor will set up a crane on the beach on Monday, May 6 to assemble the CRAB, the very tall, wheeled machine that measures the grade/slope of the beach prior to and after nourishment.

They also added that during construction, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, usually completing up to 500 feet per day, barring mechanical or weather/sea condition delays. This means that active construction moves quickly and will only be in front of any particular building or area for two or three days.