Corps Awards GLDD Contract for Delaware Beach Project

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District awarded a contract to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, LLC for $7.21 million to conduct periodic nourishment of the Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach Coastal Storm Risk Management project. Located on the Atlantic Coast of Delaware, the project is a joint effort of the Corps of Engineers and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

The contract calls for dredging 409,000 cubic yards of sand from an offshore borrow site and pumping it through a series of pipes to be placed on the beaches in Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach. Most of the work will be to widen the beaches from the toe of the dunes to the waterline. In some areas, access points will also be repaired.

The Corps has included contract options to place additional sand as part of the project (an additional 100,000 cubic yards) depending on the condition of the beach as found through surveys. The total cost for the base contract and all options is $8.2 million. The project is cost-shared between the federal government and the State of Delaware. Dredging and beachfill operations are expected to begin in the fall of 2019.

The Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach Coastal Storm Risk Management project initially included construction of a 125-foot berm backed by a dune at elevation +13.2 that was completed in 2005. The project has since been nourished/repaired in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2016. The project is designed to reduce storm damages to infrastructure.