Crews resume work on beach project

Work on a $4.5 million emergency beach project has resumed.

The project, which will bring 133,000 cubic yards of sand to the north end, was delayed for two weeks because of a generator motor.

Before the latest issue, the project was delayed four times because of permitting issues involved with the dredge that came from the Northeast.

The dredge picks up sand from a site north of Anna Maria Island and the sand is pumped to the island through pipes.

Town staff worked to receive a permit from the state last year, which allows the town to rebuild the entire beach profile, a 200-feet wide beach that used to exist there that has been swept away from Broadway to north of North Shore Road.

A small portion of the sand being brought on shore will be placed just south of Broadway and the project will work its way north. The reason sand needs to be placed south of Broadway first, even though a wide beach already exists there, is because the sand will migrate north due to the currents in that area and help to fill in the beach north of Broadway.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].