Corps Awards Contract to Great Lakes for Townsends Inlet Project

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District awarded a $7.5 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company to complete periodic nourishment of the Townsends Inlet to Cape May Inlet (Avalon and Stone Harbor) Coastal Storm Risk Management project. The Corps is working alongside the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the communities of Avalon and Stone Harbor.

The Townsends Inlet to Cape May Inlet project is located on the Atlantic coast of New Jersey. The project includes the Townsends Inlet seawall in Avalon; the Hereford Inlet seawall in North Wildwood; and dune and beachfill in the communities of Avalon and Stone Harbor. The dune and beachfill project was nourished and repaired in 2011, 2013 and 2017. The project is designed to reduce damages from coastal storm events.

The contract calls for dredging approximately 425,000 cubic yards of sand from Townsends Inlet and pumping it onto the beach from the Townsends Inlet south jetty area to approximately 19th Street in Avalon. The contract includes options for dredging and placing additional sand and options to harvest sand in Stone Harbor. Sand harvesting involves using sand that has accumulated within the dune system above the federal template to nourish the berm in front of the dune. The Corps will conduct surveys of the beach before deciding whether to exercise the contract options to harvest sand.

The contract is cost shared between the federal government with 65 percent of costs funded by the Corps and non-federal entities with 35 percent of costs funded by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the municipalities.