News

By Cheryl Blackerby

    The renourishment project for Boca Raton’s north beach was plagued with strong winds and big waves that stopped work, but in the end the project was finished ahead of schedule.
    Dredging was completed Dec. 13, two weeks shy of the predicted finish date of the end of the month.
    “The project is done and the beach looks great,” said Jennifer Bistyga, coastal engineer with the city of Boca Raton. “They finished pumping sand, then removed the dredge, and it’s heading up to South Carolina.”
    High waves caused severe erosion farther north in Martin County on Dec. 9, but South County fared better.  There was some loss of sand at north beach, but two weeks later that sand was already coming back, she said.
    “It caused a little bit of erosion, but there’s a beautiful sandbar at water edge at low tide in front of Spanish River Park,” she said. “You want to see a sandbar if you’ve lost sand, because you know it’s going to work its way back on the beach.”
    Wind, rain and rough seas stopped the project several times in March and April this year.
    The work came to a halt at the beginning of turtle nesting season at the end of April, with only about 50 percent of the dredging completed.
    Work started again in early November at the end of turtle season, but was stopped again Nov. 15 and during Thanksgiving because of bad weather.
    The 1.4 miles of new sand starts 1,000 feet north of Spanish River Boulevard and runs south to just north of Red Reef Park. The north beach got the worst damage in the city from Hurricane Sandy.  
    The Army Corps of Engineers, the city of Boca Raton and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are paying for the project.
    The next renourishment project in Boca Raton is central beach.
    “We’re going to bid for construction companies in May for the central beach project,” she said. “We hope to start dredging in November 2015 and complete the project in April 2016.”
    Although the central beach didn’t lose as much sand to Hurricane Sandy as the north and south beaches, a recent survey showed the beach needs sand.  
    The central beach hasn’t been replenished since 2006 and is due for regular sand maintenance, usually done at 10-year intervals, said Bistyga.
    Central beach runs just south of Red Reef Park to Boca Inlet.  The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, the city of Boca Raton and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will pay for that project.