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SANDWICH – Members of the Woods Hole Group had some good news for Sandwich Selectmen when they discussed the status of Town Neck Beach this week.
The beach has gained over 2,500 cubic yards of sand in net volume from March 2016-March 2017.
That’s after placing up to 130,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from the Cape Cod Canal and re-grading the beach.
The $3 million nourishment project also included the rebuild of dunes on the beach with the materials dredged.
“Typically we want a beach nourishment project to push out to about 7-10 years, that gets you to a cost benefit ratio that starts to make sense,” said Woods Hole Group Coastal Engineer Kirk Bosma. “I’m thrilled, so far, with the performance out there over the first year.”
Sand at the site was being eaten away by high winds and waves after recent winter storms in 2015 and 2016.
Still, the town was advised to continue to look for land sources, such as sites upland and at the canal, to get more sand to Town Neck.
“Beach nourishment is not just putting sand down there, this is a design part to this whole thing and so we finally got that with the regrading process, and that’s why I feel like we’re having much more success out there now than we did before,” said Bosma.
The federal government is conducting and funding a Section 111 survey that will look the extent and impact of the Canal on the beach with the amount of sand lost and how much needs to be placed in the future.
The study will also evaluate alternatives to mitigate those losses and will assess material sources and the impact to the Mill Creek/Old Harbor Inlet.
The study is expected to be done by February 2019 and will provide a least costly, technically feasible and environmentally acceptable alternative.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter
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