Projects will leave Lido Key with a whole new beach

As renourishment winds down, the city of Sarasota is gearing up for a project to build 6-foot-plus dunes for much of Lido Key.

By Andrew Warfield
| 5:00 a.m. April 16, 2026

Sarasota City Engineer Sage Kamiya at the Lido Beach Pavilion walkover, which will be replaced when 6-foot-high dunes are built in the area.

Sarasota
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Like most of the Sarasota County coastline following the back-to-back visits by the 2024 power couple of hurricanes Helene and Milton, much of the beach and dune sand from Lido Beach was left strewn about on roads, parking lots and inside homes.

Concurrent with the nearly complete Lido Beach renourishment, this fall the city will begin a project to raise the protective dunes from Lido Beach Pavilion south to, but not including, Ted Sperling Park.

The dune project will increase the height of dunes that exist along Lido Beach by 2 feet to an elevation of 6.6 feet — and build them where they currently don't — to improve storm protection from a 10-year to a 25-year event. Included will be installation of native salt-tolerant plants for added storm protection.

“Thanks to our hurricanes, the dunes got hit pretty hard,” said Sarasota City Engineer Sage (pronounced sah-jee) Kamiya. “There are locations that do have what is left of dunes, and they were higher before the storms lowered them and spread all the sand everywhere that we didn't want it. This project will restore and increase them for added storm protection and also environmental benefit for native plants and flora and fauna alike.”

The project should take approximately 75 days. Unlike the underway beach renourishment work, the selected contractor will have to haul some 3,000 cubic yards of sand by truck to the site from an inland mine approved by the city, according to Kamiya. That will require 215 to 300 dump truck loads, depending upon the trucks’ capacity.

Once the dunes are in place, the plantings will follow. A maintenance period will follow to ensure the plantings have taken root. The project is funded 50% by tourist development tax revenues, charged to occupants of hotel rooms, and 50% by Florida Department of Environmental Protection grants.

When complete, the dunes and renourishment projects will effectively create a new beach. While the work is taking place, access will be maintained. In all, there will be more than 30 beach access locations available during and after the work, which will include post-and-rope barriers bordering the pedestrian areas.

The cost of the dunes project is $1.2 million, including construction costs of nearly $700,000.

This walkover at Lido Beach Pavilion will be replaced as part of the city's dunes installation project.

A temporary pipeline carries sand through Lido Beach after it is dredged from New Pass at the north end of Lido Key.

The walkover project will include the removal and replacement of three beach walkovers, one at the pavilion, one at the north end of the pavilion parking lot and the other at the North Lido Beach access at the curve of John Ringling and Benjamin Franklin boulevards. Cost of the walkovers project is $840,000, including construction cost of $770,000. The funding formula for the wooden boardwalk areas will mirror that of the dunes project.

“It's going to have to be done in stages, and as they are done there are gong to be crossings between the dunes marked with posts and ropes,” Kamiya said. “There will always be access to the beach.”

Renourishment completion expected soon

As planning continues in advance of Lido Beach dunes installation, the beach renourishment project on 1.2 miles of shoreline is nearing completion, which is expected by the end of April.

For now, the black pipe still stretches from New Pass — where a dredging project supplies the sand for the renourishment — along Lido Beach, through which the sand is pumped. Sand bridges provide crossing access to the water for beachgoers.

Lido Beach is mostly back to its pre-storm width, thanks to the nearly complete renourishment project.

It’s a separate project executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the city of Sarasota, part of a 50-year agreement for sand replacement to occur at approximately five-year intervals. That project cost is approximately $12 million, paid for with federal funding.

Funds for the restoration of the federally authorized beach template were secured through the work of the city’s federal government lobbyist the Color Nine Group, in coordination with the offices of U.S. Rep. Greg Steube and Florida Sen. Rick Scott.

A view of Lido Beach from the Pavilion, which currently has no dune protection.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Dune formation and benefits

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a line of sand dunes can provide protection from flooding resulting from high water levels and overtopping waves. They can also reduce wave damage in developed areas by breaking up waves as they cross over dunes.

Sand that comprises the dunes also serves as a sacrificial contribution to the increased sand transport during storms, which can reduce the landward movement of the shoreline during storm events.

Dunes may also naturally form when vegetation or other obstructions to the wind results in sand being trapped. In areas of sufficient sand where the beach is wide, dunes can be encouraged to develop naturally by planting dune grass or other vegetation or by installing sand fences to trap blowing sand.

According to the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, protective functions of dunes include:

Storm surge buffer: Dunes act as a physical barrier that breaks the force of waves and slows water velocity, preventing or delaying the flooding of inland areas.
Sand reservoir: During intense storms, dunes erode, releasing sand into the nearshore system, helping to create offshore bars that force waves to break farther offshore, reducing energy reaching the beach.
Vegetation stabilization: Coastal plants such as sea oats have extensive root systems that trap sand and hold it in place, allowing dunes to naturally build height and width.
Post-storm recovery: In calmer periods, wind blows sand back into the dune system, allowing them to rebuild and recover after sustaining damage.

Dunes also provide essential habitat and food source for wildlife, including:

Nesting and breeding: Dunes provide safe, elevated and dry areas for sea turtles to lay eggs and are critical nesting sites for shorebirds.
Refuge from storms: Dunes protect inland habitats, providing a barrier of protection against high waves and storm surges, shielding species that live adjacent to the shoreline.
Foraging: Many insects and small mammals live in the sand dune environment, providing a food source for birds and reptiles.

author

Andrew Warfield

Andrew Warfield is the Sarasota Observer city reporter. He is a four-decade veteran of print media. A Florida native, he has spent most of his career in the Carolinas as a writer and editor, nearly a decade as co-founder and editor of a community newspaper in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.