VB begins beach replenishment project

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Nearly a million cubic yards of sand will be put down between 15th and 45th streets at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront as part of a $20.2 million beach replenishment project, the first time the city has undertaken such a project in more than five years.

Previously: $22M beach replenishment coming to Virginia Beach Oceanfront for hurricane protection

The project, beginning this week but with an official start in early 2025, is a mitigation and environmental sustainability effort to restore eroded coastal areas that have been damaged by severe storms, waves, winds and flooding.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is contributing $13.13 million of the $20.2 million total, with the city contributing $7.07 million. The city said taxpayer dollars would be saved because the sand will be dredged from the nearby Atlantic Ocean Channel in Norfolk.

The city last carried out a beach replenishment project in 2019, and it said it is following its replenishment implementation schedule of doing so every five to seven years to protect and preserve the city’s coast.

The city estimates that the $20.2 million in investments it has made since 2002 has prevented more than $1 billion in storm-related damages.

Manson Construction Co. is the contractor for the beach replenishment project. The replenishment sand will be taken from the Atlantic Ocean Channel offshore in Norfolk by using a hopper dredge vessel, through a submerged pipeline and then putting it on the beach.

The city said that by depositing imported, beach-quality sand along the shoreline, the replenishment “can raise or expand a beach, while also directing the shoreline seaward. It said earth-moving equipment would grade the beach into place at a length of 300 to 500 feet per day, depending on the weather and the equipment.

For more information about the city’s beach nourishment program, go here.

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