The Nags Head (NC) beach renourishment project is now underway.
CSE has been serving the Town of Nags Head by designing and directing the 4 million cubic yard beach renourishment project along its 10-mile oceanfront. As of May 1, 2019, the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company (GLDD) hopper dredge Ellis Island began pumping sand onto the beach around 7 pm at a discharge point located south of Limulus Street and has been working steadily along the coastline.
This renourishment supplements a previous 2011 project which placed 4.6 million cubic yards of sand along the same length of beach. The 2011 project is the largest locally funded nourishment accomplished to date in the U.S. and won the ASBPA “Best Restored Beaches” award in 2013. CSE also had the privilege of directing this project to win the 2013 ACEC Engineering Excellence Award. These nourishment projects are part of an ongoing long-term coastal management plan to replenish sand which was lost due to chronic erosion and hurricanes, increase storm protection for oceanfront properties and infrastructure, widen the recreational beach, and provide additional natural habitat for wildlife.
GLDD, the largest dredging contractor in the U.S., has assigned two hopper dredges for this project (Liberty Island and Ellis Island). The Liberty Island (scheduled to arrive later this month) completed over 50 percent of the 2011 nourishment, and the other dredge, Ellis Island, is the largest hopper dredge in the U.S. with double the capacity of the Liberty Island.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.
