Lido Beach – one of country’s best restored beaches

The recently completed Lido Beach renourishment project has earned national recognition, landing on the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association’s annual list of the country’s best restored beaches.

The award acknowledges community beach restoration projects around the United States that “increase a shoreline’s resiliency, the beach’s ability to mitigate storm damage and flooding from severe storms and naturally allow the beach to adjust to short-term sea level rise while remaining an important part of the nearshore ecosystem.”

The Lido Beach renourishment, a partnership between the City and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, added nearly 700,000 cubic yards of recycled sand to a 1.56-mile stretch of Lido Key, protecting critical infrastructure, properties and wildlife habitats.

Two rock groins were also constructed along South Lido, helping to trap the flow of sand and reduce erosion.

“This year’s restored beach award winners represent a variety of beach types, and I congratulate them for the hard work and beautiful beaches they have protected and enhanced,” said ASBPA President Tony Pratt.

“For more than 50 years, beach restoration – the process of placing beach-quality sand on dwindling beaches to reverse or offset the effects of sand loss –  has been the preferred method of shore protection in coastal communities, and the original living shoreline approach to addressing coastal erosion.”

Projects were judged on three criteria:

• the economic and ecological benefits the beach brings to its community;

• short- and long-term success of the restoration project;

• the challenges each community overcame during the course of the project.