WILMINGTON, NC – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Wilmington District awarded a periodic nourishment contract on Nov. 30, 2018 at a cost of approximately $17.4 million to Weeks Marine, Incorporated. This contract for coastal storm risk management covers all or portions of the shorelines within Carolina Beach and Kure Beach.
Periodic nourishment, or placement of sand along the shoreline, helps ensure that this project continues to provide authorized storm risk reduction benefits to homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure as well as providing an outstanding recreational resource to the public until the next scheduled nourishment event, normally every three years.
For the Carolina Beach portion of this contract, the contractor has recently begun to mobilize land based equipment to a designated storage area just past the entrance to Freeman Park, Also, the dredge, which will be used to pump sand from the Carolina Beach Inlet onto the Carolina Beach shoreline, is docked at the Weeks Marine yard facility on the Cape Fear River for regular maintenance. Also, the contractor is currently surveying the entire project shoreline so the Corps can utilize this information to make any adjustments to sand placement areas as necessary.
“Once these surveys are completed, the Corps will provide revised plans back to the contractor so actual placement can begin at Carolina Beach as soon as possible,” said COL Robert J. Clark, Commander Wilmington District.
Clark notes that the actual start of sand placement on Carolina Beach has not been determined. All placement, including at Kure Beach, must be completed no later than April 30, 2019, before the beginning of the turtle nesting season.
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