GLDD to Resume Virginia Beach Oceanfront Project

The Army Corps’ Norfolk District and City of Virginia Beach officials have just announced that the work on Virginia Beach oceanfront project will resume in the next couple of days.

Image source: Andria Allmond/USACE

As reported, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock LLC – the Virginia Beach Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Project’s contractor intends to mobilize equipment at 68th Street and install submerged pipeline between 60th and 61st streets this week.

Crews will be placing approximately 1.4 million cubic yards of sand on the beach, widening it and raising it to 9 feet above sea-level, back to it’s original width and height, USACE announced.

Virginia Beach visitors and residents may begin to see pipes and equipment being transported and staged by the contractor,” said Ashton Burgin, Norfolk District project manager.

The project, which began in late June, renourished 75% of the oceanfront in approximately two months. The contractor halted operations Sept. 1 for a sea turtle migration time-of-year restriction imposed by the district.

Burgin also added that the contractor expects completion within four weeks of resuming operations. Sandbridge is expected to start later this winter and be wrapped up by May.

Virginia Beach’s hurricane and storm-damage reduction system was originally completed in 2001, and this is the second beach-replenishment contract since initial construction.

The first occurred in 2012, when crews placed 1.25 million cubic yards of sand on the beach.