Renourishment on the First Coast

Diver_Down · Feb 13, 2011

Was out hitting some of the far-off, out of the way beaches on the First Coast, yesterday, when I came upon some activity on Old A1A in St. Johns (north of Marineland). Last week, I attended a community affairs monthly meeting where they brought up the issue of renourishment on Old A1A that was to occur later this spring. The dredge barge was supposed to be pulling the source sand from north of Matanzas Inlet and pumping it to the project site. The community was up in arms as they had signed permits from DEP to conduct this project during Sea Turtle nesting season. As Florida residents know, that such activity is never approved during nesting season, but for whatever reason, this project got the green light. Apparently, the company is busy dredging/renourishing up in Jacksonville area and wouldn't be able to move the barge south until later in the spring. Well, as expected when dealing with efficient spending on government contracts, the project was accelerated. They don't need to bring the barge south as they are trucking the sand from up north down I-95 to the site. I counted 30 different dump trucks, yesterday, in the span of a couple of hours.

My question is does anyone know of any dredging operations up in Jacksonville? I'm curious as to the source of this sand.

Tab Hunter · Feb 13, 2011

Probably the Ocean...........Sorry the Detector Devil made me say it......

If we're lucky maybe from a shipwreck & not a can slaw dump site.......HH....Sorry about the Joke......

Can Slaw · Feb 13, 2011

Re: Probably the Ocean...........Sorry the Detector Devil made me say it......

Tab Hunter said:
If we're lucky maybe from a shipwreck & not a can slaw dump site.......HH....Sorry about the Joke......

They would never take sand from my beach, what would we have left to hunt here?

stevemc · Feb 13, 2011

When they first filled the Treasure coast beaches, at least the ones just South of Sebastian Inlet, they trucked it in, and it was nasty, had granite ground up, and dirty sand, and even some ground cans, so maybe it is a combination of places.

Diver_Down · Feb 13, 2011

I'm headed out this morning with some donuts and coffee. I hope to "speak" to dump truck drivers in a tongue they understand. ::)

I was looking forward to the sand coming from north of Matanzas Inlet. I just wasn't expecting the sand to come 40 miles north.

TheRandyMan · Feb 13, 2011

I would recommend taquitos and soft drinks...we are not talking about beat cops driving these trucks ya know... :tongue3:

steve from ohio · Feb 15, 2011

Beach sanding is being paid for by the federal government. The Republicans are now saying that there will be no more beach sanding.

Beach renourishment was a big waste of money with the sand usually washed out after a very short time. All it was doing was protecting the beach property values of the very wealthy. Let the beaches stay natural and stop the waste of money being spent on sand.

lacey333 · Feb 16, 2011

steve from ohio said:
Beach sanding is being paid for by the federal government. The Republicans are now saying that there will be no more beach sanding.

Beach renourishment was a big waste of money with the sand usually washed out after a very short time. All it was doing was protecting the beach property values of the very wealthy. Let the beaches stay natural and stop the waste of money being spent on sand.

AMEN to that brother!! You got my vote! :hello2:

davest · Feb 17, 2011

and let those multi milion dollar condos and houses wash out to sea where they belong. : :headbang:

I couldn't agree with you more,and if the seas threaten a hotel or two, let the hotel owners handle the refurb. I'm tired of having numerous feet of sand dumped over my hunting spots. :thumbsup:

stevemc · Feb 17, 2011

On this coast, I do know that coastal cities are paying (at least now) for the sand pumping. So if the feds arent paying, maybe it will at least slow down. Some inlets have a pump built in to fill the beach. Jupiter inlet and Lake Worth Inlet (Palm Beach) are 2. Hopefully they figure out that the beach will be there, and they dont need to waste millions on pumping.

lacey333 · Feb 23, 2011

stevemc said:
On this coast, I do know that coastal cities are paying (at least now) for the sand pumping. So if the feds arent paying, maybe it will at least slow down. Some inlets have a pump built in to fill the beach. Jupiter inlet and Lake Worth Inlet (Palm Beach) are 2. Hopefully they figure out that the beach will be there, and they dont need to waste millions on pumping.