Rain and cable break busts beach work timeline
A plan to bulk up Boca’s beach has turned into an on andendeavor with bad storms and equipment issues delaying construction.
After about a monthlong setback because of the weather, crews finally began pumping sand onto a 1.45-mile stretch of beach Tuesday night but had to stop because an anchor cable broke, the city’s coastal manager Jennifer Bistyga said.
Even though the cable, which secures the equipment, was quickly fixed, crews have had to hold off even longer because of winds and rough seas, Bistyga said.
“All repairs have been made,”
Bistyga said Wednesday afternoon. “We’re just waiting for the seas to calm. Once it gets safe to be dredging again, they’ll start back up.”
When construction gets fully underway, sections of the beach will close for the safety of beachgoers but will reopen as crews move south. The area most affected will be South Beach Park, Bistyga said.
The plan is for crews towork 24/7 to pump 30,000 cubic yards of sand onto the beach. Residents may hear the beeping of equipment backing up.
Crews from New Jerseybased contractor Weeks Marine had originally planned to start the sand-addition work on the beach the first week of March, beginning just south of Red Reef Park and continuing until the Boca Raton Inlet.
Covering about 500 to 800 feet of beach each 24-hour period, crews should have had all the work completed and equipment off the beach by late April.
But unfavorable weather conditions left some equipment stuck in the Port of Palm Beach. It was not until Tuesday that the equipment arrived offshore of the project site.
The contractor is working on an updated project schedule,
Bistyga said. The $11.3 million cost of the project will not change because of the weather delays.
When the project is complete, residents and beachgoers will see a much wider beach. The city says it plans to post weekly updates and photos on its website, ci.boca-raton.fl.us.
Anyone with questions can contact Bistyga at 561-416-3397 or jbistyga@
emiller@tribpub.com, 561-243-6531, Twitter @EmilyBethMiller or visit our ‘Sun Sentinel: Boca Raton’ community page at SunSentinel.com /facebookboca