Folly Beach Renourishment Project to Cause Disruptions
A beach renourishment project is currently underway at Folly Beach, South Carolina. The project is expected to cause disruptions for both local residents and tourists. Specific details regarding the timeline and the extent of the inconveniences have not yet been released by officials.
- The current project is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiative with a budget of $18 million, entirely funded by the federal government. - This renourishment effort will place approximately 1.3 million cubic yards of sand on the beach, which is equivalent to about 130,000 dump trucks worth of sand. - The project spans about 5 miles of shoreline, from Folly Beach County Park to the first groin northeast of Summer Place Lane. - Sand for this project is being dredged from the Folly River channel. - Chronic erosion at Folly Beach is largely attributed to the construction of the Charleston Harbor jetties in the late 1890s, which altered the natural flow of sand. - This is not a new issue; Folly Beach has been a federal beach renourishment project since 1993, with six previous renourishments placing a total of 8.7 million cubic yards of sand on the beach. - In addition to widening the beach for recreation and storm protection, this project also includes habitat restoration for Bird Key. - The primary contractor for the project is Gator Dredging, with Marinex Construction as a subcontractor.
