FORT PIERCE — A federal beach renourishment project near the Fort Pierce jetty is progressing, with crews working to rebuild portions of the shoreline after earlier delays.
St. Lucie County officials say the effort, led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, began weeks ago and has largely stayed on track despite minor weather interruptions.
“That began a couple weeks ago, and crews seem to be moving along,” said Erick Gill, communications manager for St. Lucie County. “They’ve had a couple days where they may have had to stop due to weather or high winds, but for the most part, they seem to be catching up and moving along. So far, we have not heard of any significant delays. In fact, from what staff can tell, it looks as if they may be ahead of schedule. I hate to jinx it, because weather can always interrupt the re-nourishment project, or there can also sometimes be equipment delays.”
The project, which typically occurs every two years, faced setbacks earlier this year as erosion worsened and raised concerns about potential dune breaches. Local officials worked to stabilize conditions until large-scale sand placement could begin.
Nearly 400,000 cubic yards of sand are being added to the beach, and early signs show visible improvement along the shoreline.
“Our staff has gone out daily and documented with pictures,” Gill said. “The tourism office has a webcam where residents can see at least some of the work that’s going on. And at least once a week, we have flown a drone over the project to see, and there is a significant amount of beach that has already been restored immediately south of Fort Pierce Beach, and we’ll continue that process down about a mile south of where we’ve started.”
Delays in launching the project had previously drawn concern during city meetings, where officials pushed for faster action as erosion intensified.
Looking ahead, county leaders are continuing discussions with federal partners about ways to better retain sand near the jetty and reduce the frequency of emergency situations.
“There have been ongoing discussions with the Corps for several years now about what improvements we can make to the jetty to keep sand there longer,” Gill said. “Some of those include T-Groin structures, which are barriers that go under the water just a little bit offshore to help hold sand there. That’s a lengthy process to get that permitted through the federal government, so it’s conversations that are ongoing.”
Even with potential improvements, officials say renourishment will remain necessary due to how the inlet disrupts natural sand movement along the coast.
“Some years we have to do it in a shorter time frame than that, depending on what Mother Nature throws at us, but the inlet there breaks up the natural flow of sand from the north to the south,” Gill said. “So no matter what we do as far as additional improvements, we know in the long run there’s still going to have to be re-nourishment and putting sand back down on that beach because of that federally maintained inlet.”
The $15 million project is expected to be completed by May, barring delays. The Army Corps of Engineers is covering nearly $12 million of the cost, with St. Lucie County funding the remainder.