The Gasparilla Island Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Project is now officially underway, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville District said in its latest announcement.
According to the Corps, work on the Gasparilla Island beach renourishment project began on Monday, May 13.
USACE awarded this $6.4 million Gasparilla Island contract to Weeks Marine of Cranford, NJ, on April 23.
During the works, the contractor will dredge and place about 320,000 cubic yards of sand on 1.8 miles of the beach.
Beach material will be dredged from a borrow area located in the shoal to the north of Boca Grande Pass and piped onto the beach.
The project also includes beach tilling, pipeline corridor hardbottom mapping, construction vibration controls and monitoring, turbidity monitoring, environmental species monitoring, beach fill remediation, and any incidental related work.
It is expected that the project will take about two months to complete.