New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy visits North Wildwood beach replenishment project site
NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. (CBS) -- Thousands of cubic yards of sand are being blasted onto the beaches in North Wildwood.
An emergency beach nourishment dredging project is officially underway, and beachgoers and long-time residents stopped by Friday afternoon to watch the machines in action.
"You have to be grateful that something is finally being done because they weren't going to do anything, so it's great," said Kathy Quinn, who has been visiting North Wildwood for nearly 25 years.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy joined North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello and N.J. Senator Michael Testa to receive an update from the Department of Transportation, who is managing the project.
"This is so gratifying to see in the context of the damage that has been done by Mother Nature," Murphy said.
After years of back and forth, a bipartisan agreement was reached in April for a temporary solution to fix the battered beach and provide more shore protection.
"This was literally an emergency, this is a community that thrives between Memorial Day and Labor Day and they were running the risk that there was going to be basically no summer in North Wildwood," Murphy said.
North Wildwood has been hit hard by bad storms. The coastal erosion has left behind large cliffs in some spots and wiped away parts of the beach in other places. The city also recently passed an ordinance banning beach tents and cabanas this summer because there is simply not enough room.
Now, 1,000-foot sections of the beach will be closed as the dredge works up and down the shoreline.
"This project is going to have about a 200-foot dry berm, and for some perspective that's about a city block here in North Wildwood," said Rosenello. "It was exactly 49 days ago today that they got the green light to start this project, and in government to go from zero to what is happening today in 49 days is quite frankly a government miracle."
Frank Clemens has been coming to North Wildwood his entire life. Before this project, he said he feared the beach would vanish completely.
"The beach is the bread and butter, I mean that's where it's at," Clemens said. "No beach and people would be going [to] other places to [go to] the beach."
The emergency project is expected to be completed by the Fourth of July.
Rosenello said a more permanent Army Corps of Engineers project is still slated for next year.
