Ft. Pierce, FL/CBS12 News — The beach renourishment project at Jetty Park in Fort Pierce is going to be paused for a few days.
Rough seas are the reason for this.
Millions of dollars are being spent on this beach renourishment project, stretching south from Jetty Park.
Work has been going on around the clock. (CBS12 News)
It’s been going on around the clock, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
A barge makes repeated trips, bringing sand from the ocean floor about two and a half miles offshore, and then it is pumped onto the beach, where bulldozers spread it around, to replace the sand Mother Nature has washed away.
Workers started pumping sand onto the beach on March 25.
A St. Lucie County spokesman says after the last barge dumps sand today, workers are going to take a break from the beach renourishment project for a couple of days for refueling and to wait for the seas to calm down because it’s been rough.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hired a private contractor to do the $15.1 million dollar beach renourishment project.
The work involves taking 400-thousand cubic yards of sand and spreading it out on a one-mile section of the beach, south of Jetty Park.
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“They’re making great progress. When we were here about three weeks ago with our daughter, I cannot believe the difference. Beautiful,” said Maureen Ford, a Boston resident who spends each winter in Fort Pierce.
“Ya know, I’m in the construction business, and I’m amazed what they’ve done down here. I’ve seen the beach erodin’ over the last couple three years. So I’m glad that they dealt with it quickly,” said Bill Ford, Maureen’s husband.
“I think that they’re putting a ton of money into this and it’s not gonna last. The second that we get a hurricane it’s gonna be totally wiped away,” said Julia Eisenbeiss, a Fort Pierce resident who says she often visits Jetty Park.
The county says the work will start up again on Friday morning.
The completion date for the entire beach renourishment project is early to mid-May.
A St. Lucie County spokesman says they have weather delays built into the work schedule, so this delay is not expected to push back the completion date.