GLDD’s dredger Illinois gears up for Ocean City beach replenishment

The Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $19.5 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company (GLDD) recently to rebuild Ocean City’s north-end beaches with 1.6 million cubic yards of sand. The project area will extend from Seaspray Beach to 12th Street.

The contractor said that sand-pumping operations will begin sometime in the range of July 7 to July 12.

Also, the dredger Illinois is staged in Absecon Inlet north of Atlantic City, waiting to be deployed.

“Mobilization and placement of equipment is underway in the area of the beach entrance at Morningside Road. Beachfront parking along Beach Road will be restricted to accommodate construction vehicles for the duration of the project,” the City said in its latest project update.

“A subline from the offshore borrow area lands on the beach at St. Charles Place, and that guarded beach will be closed to swimming for the duration of the project.”

In the first stage, work will proceed southward toward 12th Street. When that is complete (within an estimated 20 days), work will move northward toward Great Egg Harbor Inlet, the City concluded.