Crews Work To Replenish More Than 12 Miles Of New Jersey Beach Devastated By Superstorm Sandy
By Cleve Bryan
SHIP BOTTOM, N.J., (CBS) -- Engulfed in haze Friday, crews continued the first phase of a $128 million project to build up Long Beach Island's beachfront the same or bigger than it was before Superstorm Sandy.
Ship Bottom will be the first town to have beaches and dunes up to 415 feet wide and 22 feet high.
"I feel a lot more secure, absolutely," says Gary La Placa who has an ocean front house on 2nd Street.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says the project will cover 12.7 miles of beaches in Long Beach Township, Ship Bottom, Beach Haven and part of Surf City.
The DEP says about 50 beachfront property owners haven't signed easements and will face eminent domain.
"We need the sand, we feel blessed that we're getting it and anyone who doesn't want it I think is silly," says Thomas Walters who owns Walters Bicyles in Ship Bottom.
Work will be done in sections of no more than 1,000 feet of beach at a time and will move at the rate of about 100 to 250 feet per day.
The project is expected to be completed by April 2016. Here is the schedule provided by the DEP:
- Ship Bottom – May to early June of this year.
- 106th Street to 13th Street in Long Beach – June to September of this year
- 57th Street to 106th Street in Long Beach – July to October of this year.
- Beach Haven and Holgate section of Long Beach and 12th Street in Long Beach south to the border of the Holgate Wildlife Refuge – September of this year to March 2016
- North Beach section of Long Beach and a portion of Surf City – December of this year to February 2016
- Loveladies section of Long Beach – February to March 2016