Contractors

Contracted to renourish the North and South Reaches, Weeks Marine, Inc. was founded in 1919 and is one of the United States leading marine construction organizations.  They mobilized two hopper dredges to restore the North Reach (Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach) and subcontracted most of the renourishment of the South Reach (Indialantic and Melbourne Beach) to Bean Stuyvesant, LLC.

Bean Stuyvesant, LLC is a joint venture formed during the 1990s between C. F. Bean LLC (a U. S. company in business for over 50 years) and Stuyvesant Dredging, a subsidiary of Royal Boskalis Westminster—the largest dredging organization in the world, in operation since the 19th century.

Hopper Dredges

Hopper dredges move slowly over the borrow area (in this case, Canaveral Shoals) pulling two drag arms that suck sand from the ocean floor and temporarily store it in the ship’s hull—the “hopper.” When full, the ship sets course to the beach construction area, hooks to a pipe running ashore, and then pumps the sand from its hopper to the beach. Weeks Marine, Inc. used hopper dredges with 4,000 cubic yard holding capacities: the R.N. Weeks and the B.E. Lindholm. Bean Stuyvesant, LLC used the largest hopper dredge operating in U.S. waters, the Stuyvesant, with a hopper capacity of 11,000 cubic yards.

B.E. Lindholm Hopper Capacity: 4,000 cubic yards	R.N. Weeks Hopper Capacity: 4,000 cubic yards
Stuyvesant Hopper Capacity: 11,000 cubic yards

Canaveral Shoals Offshore Borrow Area

Located approximately 6 miles due east of Canaveral Inlet, this area offers an abundance of sand that meets stringent state criteria and has been deemed “beach quality sand” suitable for Brevard County’s beaches. Sand from the Canaveral Shoals borrow area was used to construct the North and South Reach beaches. This borrow area is located far enough offshore that dredging of the shoals did not affect waves reaching the shore, and did not cause erosion of the shoreline. There were no reef or hardbottom communities in or near this borrow area subject to disturbance by the dredging activity.

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Pipeline on the Beach

During construction, a pipeline ran from offshore to a landing point on the beach. Hopper dredges pumped their cargos of sand through the pipeline to widen the beach at the landing point. Beach renourishment then proceeded to the north or south of the landing point by adding lengths of pipe along the beach.

Eventually, the direction of renourishment would be “flipped” from north to south or south to north, while the landing pipeline itself remained stationary.  It would then be detached and relocated to the next landing point. During this process, temporary sand ramps were maintained over the pipeline at regular intervals to provide safe public access to the ocean and newly widened beach.

Crews worked around the clock, producing noise from engines and safety backup alarms, and using lights from dusk until dawn. The small, active construction area affected by the sounds and lights typically progressed past individual properties in 48 hours or less. On average, the construction progressed over 500 feet per day along the beach. Safety backup alarms were exempt from all local noise ordinances.

As the project progressed, bulldozers, front-end loaders, and other necessary construction equipment could be seen engaged in the creation of a smooth, wide beach using the new sand as it is was pumped ashore.

The new beach sand was discharged onto the beach through the pipeline in a powerful jet of water.  

The area immediately surrounding the open, working end of the pipeline was closed for public safety while construction was underway. It was important to stay well clear of this operation. The off-limits area moved an average of 500 feet per day and a maximum of 1200 feet per day as the project progressed along the beach. Safety officers were posted to guard this area at all times.

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Sand Color

The newly dredged sand initially looked a little different than the pre-project beach. Beachgoers sometimes noticed that the sand was slightly more coarse and gray; however, the new sand met specific criteria mandated by the State of Florida for Brevard County’s beaches, including grain size distribution, shell content, and color. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being dark, and 10 being light), Brevard’s beaches are about an 8. The replacement sand was initially about a 6; however, over a period of time the sun continues to bleach the sand until it is gradually closer to the color beachgoers are accustomed to seeing.

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Equilibration

Beach width increases as sand is added to the shoreline. As time passes, waves and currents shift some of the newly-added sand from the extra-wide beach to sand bars in the surf zone. This process is known as “equilibration.” Eventually, about 2/3 of the new material will be underwater, supporting the wider dry beach much as a foundation supports a house. Sand bars migrate onto the beach during the summer, increasing beach width, only to return offshore as a result of winter storm erosion. This fluctuation is a natural beach process restored by the renourishment project. Since this is a 50 year project, the beach will continue to be renourished every 6 years or as needed. This renourishment interval will be determined by the frequency and severity of storms that impact Brevard County over the 50 years.

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