U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, Awards North Myrtle Beach Storm Damage Reduction Project Contract

North Myrtle Beach, SC – April 30, 2019 – On May 13, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, will begin a storm damage reduction (beach nourishment) project in North Myrtle Beach. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, LLC will execute the project.

The public may track the progress of the project on a real-time basis by using the District’s web mapper at https://arcg.is/1591Wu

It will take 30-45 days to complete the federally funded project.

For the first section of the project, the contractor will access the beach from Sea Mountain Highway. The contractor will set up a crane on the beach on Monday, May 6 to assemble the CRAB, the very tall, wheeled machine (see photo) that measures the grade/slope of the beach prior to and after nourishment. Trucks will back out onto beach on mats to provide the parts for CRAB construction.

During active construction, the vast majority of the beach will remain open and available for the public to enjoy.

The project, which replaces some 280,000 cubic yards of sand eroded by Hurricane Florence, originally was to merge with last year’s Hurricane Irma beach nourishment project but delays in completing the Myrtle Beach segment pushed the North Myrtle Beach segment into spring 2019. 

The project stretches for about 2.7 miles along the North Myrtle Beach shoreline from 22nd Avenue North to 54th Avenue North and from Ocean Creek Drive to 43rd Avenue South.

“This storm damage reduction project aims to minimize the impacts to people and property behind the dunes in a storm event,” said Wes Wilson, project manager. “While we acknowledge that people may see temporary inconveniences while the project is underway, the project has many long-term benefits, especially during storm season.”

During construction, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, usually completing up to 500 feet per day, barring mechanical or weather/sea condition delays. This means that active construction moves quickly and will only be in front of any particular building or area for two or three days.

Beach-goers may cross pipelines running along the beach, outside of any fenced areas, where the contractor places crossover sand ramps. The public should keep away from pipelines and only cross them at the sand ramps.

Since the project takes place during sea turtle nesting season, the contractor will comply with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammals Protection Act.