Crews start crucial project aimed at saving San Clemente beach

Crews started the crucial project to save a half-mile stretch of San Clemente beach and the train tracks that run alongside it.

The critical infrastructure linking San Diego to the rest of California has closed several times recently after landslides and storms threatened the safety of the railway. 

"If you think about all the jobs up and down our coast in Orange and San Diego County alone it's about 140,000 jobs and a multi-billion dollar impact to our regional economy," Congressman Mike Levin said. 

The incoming sand from the Camp Pendelton area will help protect not only the rails but also the coastal bluffs, businesses, and homes while also widening the shore by 50 feet. With the help of the Army Corps of Engineers, crews will pump in a mix of sand and water through an offshore pipeline three times a day to push the sand up to the coastline.

San Clemente Mayor Victor Cabral said the beach has dramatically changed in the past couple of years and hopes that this project can restore the area to its former glory.

"A couple of years ago there were volleyball courts here and a lot of sand," he said. 

However, experts believe the new sand and the other measures officials have implemented to stave off the erosion may not make a difference.

The project will take about a month to complete and will need to be repeated in about six years. The city must raise about $9 million, about half of the cost, to continue the future projects.