USACE Philadelphia awards beach nourishment contract for Brigantine storm resilience

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE’s) Philadelphia District announced that it has awarded a contract to Norfolk Dredging Company for $14 million to conduct periodic beach nourishment for the City of Brigantine as part of the Coastal Storm Risk Management project.

The contract uses dredging and beachfill operations to maintain Brigantine’s protective dune and berm features, reducing the risk of storm damages to infrastructure.

The project is part of the joint effort between USACE, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the City of Brigantine.

The contract calls for dredging and placing approximately 850,000 cubic yards sand.

The sand is dredged from a borrow site near Brigantine Inlet, then pumped through a series of pipes, placed on the beach, and graded into an engineered dune and berm template. The template is designed to reduce damages from coastal storm events. In Brigantine, sand will be placed in the northern portion of the community from just north of 14th Street N. proceeding south to approximately Roosevelt Blvd.

Norfolk Dredging Company is expected to begin dredging and beachfill operations in July 2023 and work is expected to be completed in the fall. Dunes will be repaired in certain areas; however, most of the work includes widening the beach between the toe of the dune and the water line.

The project is cost-shared between the Federal government, the State of New Jersey, and the municipality.