‘It’s going to be a game-changer’: Chesapeake Bay beach plagued by erosion gets a dose of sand

Beach nourishment has begun on a Chesapeake Bay stretch that lost a significant amount of sand and dunes to erosion in recent years.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is working west of the Lesner Bridge, closing off sections of the beach. The replenishment started last week at Albemarle Avenue and is moving east over the next couple of weeks.

“We’re very excited to be delivering this project,” city engineer Dan Adams recently told members of Ocean Park Civic League. “We understand the condition of the beach, the alarming condition, and how unnerving that is if you live on the bayfront and have seen the recent dune losses.”

Jagged drop-offs along the dune line had become commonplace on Ocean Park beach over the past several years. And the narrow beach forced beachgoers to crowd around the water’s edge with little room to spread out.

The $6 million replenishment project includes adding roughly 400,000 cubic yards of sand along 6,000 feet of beach. The area where people sit and walk will increase to more than 100 feet wide in some areas.

“This is a substantial volume of sand,” Adams said. “It’s going to be a game-changer for the condition of the beach and allow the dune system to recover.”

This project will add four times more sand than the city has ever placed on Ocean Park beach, according to Adams.

“I’m glad it’s finally coming to fruition,” said Phil Davenport, chairman of the Bayfront Advisory Commission, which makes recommendations to the City Council. “This is exactly what was needed.”

Virginia Beach is partnering with the Virginia Port Authority to deliver the sand, which is coming from the deepening of the Chesapeake Bay shipping channel that leads to the Norfolk Harbor.

Ocean View beach in Norfolk also will be getting sand from the channel project.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com