Privately funded $1M project aims to stop Bay Head beach erosion
Construction on two rock groins began this week to replace the wooden ones long buried and damaged from the 1960s.
Bay Head leaders say they have a solution to stop beach erosion - after years of watching rebuilt beaches get swept out to sea.
Construction on two rock groins began this week to replace the wooden ones long buried and damaged from the 1960s.
But the $1 million project won’t cost taxpayers a penny.
The latest shipment of boulders from western New Jersey just arrived in Bay Head where they will be used to construct groins at Mount and Karge Streets. More commonly, but incorrectly called jetties, the groins are designed to trap sand flowing south to north in the natural current. The goal is to create a much more stable beach.
Years of taxpayer-funded replenishments often left cliffs after big storms. Last summer’s sand pumping stuck around only a few weeks. For this project, private funding covered the cost of the rocks, transportation, planning and construction.
Crews will first dig a trench in the tidal zone to make room for the giant boulders, and then they’ll be lifted onto a flat bed, driven on to the beach and then hoisted by crane into their final resting spots. The work will take about a month to complete.
“This is one thing we insisted upon with this group was that this must be finished well before the beach season begins. If it wasn’t we wouldn’t give them permission to start,” said Bill Gage, president of the Bay Head Improvement Association.
The Bay Head Preservation Alliance and Improvement Association wanted to replace the two groins years ago but got held up.
“We spent five or six years trying to get the permits out of the state. It didn’t happen right away,” said Bay Head Mayor Bill Curtis.
“This town depends on the beach, tourism, and renting homes here. It’s very important this beach gets protected for years in the future,” said Eckert.
