GLDD Begins Work on Two Virginia Beach Projects

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District has awarded the Sandbridge Hurricane Protection and Beach Renourishment project contract to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company. The Norfolk District, in partnership with the city of Virginia Beach, will administer the contract. The project is expected to begin in mid-November.

The Sandbridge project was originally slated to be the first one that GLDD undertook, but it required an agreement by the Bureau of Ocean Management for use of its sand borrow site and that agreement was delayed until April due to last year’s government shutdown.
The Sandbridge project is a $20.3 million contract that includes design, construction and administrative costs. Work is expected to begin around mid-November and involves dredging an area approximately 5 miles long and 725 feet wide extending from the Dam Neck Fleet Training Center to Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

The previous storm-damage project on Sandbridge was completed in 2013. Due to natural coastal impacts and smaller storms, the sand placed in 2013 has eroded, and the infrastructure behind the beach berm will be at risk in the event of a large storm.
Great Lakes Dredge and Dock also started the Virginia Beach Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Project, a joint effort by the city of Virginia Beach and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District, in June.

GLDD began work at 15th Street, working in roughly 1,000-foot sections of the beach. The project consists of beach-berm renourishment along the Virginia Beach oceanfront to provide for a minimum elevation of 9 feet above sea level and minimum crest width of 100 feet.
GLDD will operate 24 hours, seven days a week. An interactive map, implemented at the district, will identify in real-time where construction is occurring.