Parts of Seaway Drive and the parking areas for Jetty Park on South Hutchinson Island are due to close March 11 in anticipation of the federal beach renourishment project due to begin later this month, according to a March 10 news release from St. Lucie County.
Much of the wider South Jetty area, including the jetty itself and adjacent beaches, will close March 14 as initial construction begins. They are currently due to reopen March 23.
The federal project comes after months of emergency sand dumps and other drastic measures by St. Lucie County and the city of Fort Pierce to fight back the ocean as it caused major erosion along South Beach, threatening to wash away the entire dune, damage properties and reach State Road A1A before the longer-term-solution federal project could begin.
Now, it seems, they have managed to run out the clock, with federal help due to begin.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hired Manson Construction to dump about 400,000 cubic yards along 1 mile of beach immediately south of Fort Pierce Inlet. The sand will be sourced from underwater deposits offshore of the Fort Pierce area through dredging.
The federal project is due to be completed by mid-May. Even with a March 24 date scheduled for the jetty and surrounding area to reopen, periodic closures to Seaway Drive, the jetty and adjacent beaches will be necessary until the renourishment project is completed, county officials said in the news release.
The federal project is due to cost $15.1 million, with 77.76% of the funding coming from the federal government and 22.25% coming from the county’s Erosion District.
The project will be monitored by independent contractors who will be checking for sea turtle nesting during construction efforts, according to the news release, and any nests that are found will be relocated to areas away from the project.
While the federal project is expected to last longer than the emergency measures taken by local governments, the sand being added is eventually expected to wash away. Typically, the federal government conducts renourishment ever two years at this site.
Local officials have said the only permanent solution would be to close the Fort Pierce Inlet, the design of which is blamed for much of the erosion issues Fort Pierce faces. However, that does not seem to be on the table, those same officials have said.
Instead, a more permanent solution being proposed by the Army Corps is to construct T-groins offshore. That project was due to begin in 2030, but local leaders have said U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fort Pierce, is working to push that timeline up significantly, with city and county officials aiming for it to begin by the end of 2026.
Wicker Perlis is TCPalm’s Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at Wicker.Perlis@TCPalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Jetty Park closures begin for federal beach renourishment project
Reporting by Wicker Perlis, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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