Larger beaches in Ortley Beach are already beginning to take their shape just three days after the first sand was pumped onto the oceanfront near 8th Avenue.
With two dredge boats now working on the project, the speed of work has increased. Both boats dredge sand from a donor site off Brick Township and then connect the boat to a pipe through which the sand flows to the beach. By Thursday afternoon, larger beaches could already be seen for about two blocks.
Sand pumping began Monday. (See earlier story and video here.) The dredge boats will pump 267,000 cubic yards of sand that will create an approximate 125-foot-wide beach, officials said. Dredges will pump sand for approximately two weeks before moving to the Absecon Island beach and dune construction project. Work in northern Ocean County will resume in late summer, starting in Mantoloking.
The project in Ortley Beach will be completed next fall, when 22 foot-high engineered and vegetated dunes will be constructed.