Beach renourishment underway on Tybee Island

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Equipment and trucks are working their way slowly down the beach.

By Don Logana - bio | email

TYBEE ISLAND, GA (WTOC) - Tybee Island beach is getting a makeover. Beach renourishment is underway.

The project is moving full steam ahead after some weather delays on Sunday. Giant pumplines are hard at work as the Army Corps of Engineers and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock handle the $11 million beach renourishment process.

Over the weekend, pumps sucked water and sand from the ocean floor and today, the spreading began to repair the erosion damaged beach. This is the first time since 2000 Georgia's largest public beach has been renourished with new sand.

Over the last few years, beachgoers experienced what Tybee officials say is a huge problem, as portions of the beach eroded so much it vanished underwater at high tide.

Equipment and trucks are working their way slowly down the beach, including a mobile tower, called the "Crab," which engineers use to go into the water and work as GPS system, navigating the entire repair.

"It's taking constant pictures of the ocean floor and giving a printout and showing what the depth and bottom of the floor consists of, so we know before what the floor looks like before and after pumping how many yards they have pumped. It's a big process," Bryan Robinson with Great Lakes Dredge and Docks, told WTOC.

The beach renourishment could take anywhere from a month and a half to three months depending on weather. Yesterday, the sea was rocky so it held up the project for a day.

Over all, workers say about 120,000 dump truck loads of sand is what the beach repairs will add up to.

People can go on the beach, but there are areas where it is blocked off because the renourishment is on going. Workers have put up yellow tape to keep people out, so if you head to the beach, stay away from areas where you see the big trucks and yellow tape.

In the last day, about 1,000 feet of beach has been repaired.