Jersey Shore towns push fixes for badly eroded beaches ahead of summer

As the unofficial start of summer draws closer, some Jersey Shore towns are getting updates on long-awaited beach replenishment projects — while one community is betting on a private fix.

Less than a month before Memorial Day weekend, construction crews in Bay Head finished rebuilding a pair of sand-catching structures known as groins. Each is made up of more than 1,200 tons of rocks and designed to be far more resilient than the old wooden groins they replaced.

“Our hope is that this is going to help solidify and anchor the beach,” said Bill Gage, president of the Bay Head Improvement Association.

Private donations paid for the roughly $1 million effort along a stretch of New Jersey’s coastline that’s highly vulnerable to erosion from storm-driven waves.

Last summer, sand pumped ashore during a major beach replenishment and protection project quickly washed away.

“My hope is that we have a nice calm preseason that without any storms, and the beaches will get bigger,” Handchen said.

Down the coast, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a contract Wednesday for a much-needed beachfill project in storm-battered sections of Strathmere and Sea Isle City.

Officials say work is expected to begin in Sea Isle City in early June.

“We got funding about three weeks ago and we worked quickly to publish a contract, and advertise it, and then awarding it. So we’re working really quickly,” said Steve Rochette with the Army Corps.

The Army Corps has yet to award contracts for upcoming beach projects in Ocean City, Avalon and Stone Harbor, which also received funding. However, officials said no work is planned in Ocean County this summer or fall.

“No one’s saying that there won’t be more erosion. There’s going to be. But this helps to rebuild them when that happens,” Gage said.