05/12/08 - Week Eight, Two Months and More than Two Miles of Shoreline Completed!
The end of last week saw the project moving beyond Barrier Dunes toward the Shoreline Drive area. Work is concentrating now on filling the beach to the north of Shoreline Drive. To help people understand how the project moves down the beach, a quick discussion of what are called "sub lines" may be useful. Three submerged lines are placed at strategic points along the shoreline. Typically when construction begins from a new sub line, work will be directed to the north of that line for approximately 2,000 feet. Once the beach is filled as far northward as required, the pumping turns to the south of that line for another approximate 2,000 feet. When that southern 2,000 or so feet are completed, the work "jumps" to the next submerged line to the south. Occasionally conditions will require work to be conducted outside this typical pattern, but this gives you a basic idea of what to expect. The biggest movement of the project, pipe, and equipment occurs when first jumping south to a new sub line -- for example, from north of Barrier Dunes to Shoreline Drive.
We wanted to revisit the subject of sand fencing and stairs. As much as we had hoped to be able to provide property-by-property assessments, the time and manpower required is just not always available. Please remove ALL SAND FENCING from the dunes. If your steps extend beyond the vegetation line, you should consider removing the portion that is out onto the sandy beach. In some cases, just removing the railings will be enough. If you have specific questions about vendors or your particular property, email us at info@savethecape.com and we’ll do our best to assist. Also, there are representative examples in the photo gallery called "First Segment Walkovers, Stairs & Fencing Recommendations" that you may find useful in deciding what to do with your walkovers.
Finally we want to discuss the planned, natural phenomenon that our completed beach will experience: equilibration. A certain amount of the sand that's placed on the beach is intended to migrate back into the water and rebuild the sandbar system and underwater toe of the dune. This migration, or equilibration, can occur over a period of months or years, depending on the weather events taking place. With the unseasonably rough weather we’ve experienced in May so far, some equilibration is probably beginning to take place. In some beach projects, residents and visitors were concerned to see some of the sand leaving the shore. We want to assure you that as this process takes place, it's doing exactly what it's supposed to, and the migration of that sand was incorporated as part of the beach design.
Finally, the new photo gallery that will be added to the website sometime today contains pictures from May 7-9. These were taken in and around Sea Cliffs, Barrier Dunes and Shoreline Drive. Our pictures with today's blog include some of these photos. The first photo is a shot of the completed beach in front of Sea Cliffs and Barrier Dunes. The second shot shows the new Shoreline Drive submerged line being placed. The third shot shows a lot of action -- the dredge is in the background, the fill shack is being moved down the beach to the south, the survey crew is working on the shoreline, and you can also see the diverter, where the flow of sand between the two pipes on the beach is controlled.
With great appreciation, portions of this site were used with permission from the Florida DEP, the City of Destin, the Town of Hilton Head Island and Sand Key.
The content provided herein is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Gulf County Tourist Development Council or Gulf County, Florida.
