FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – For the first time in over a month, most of the beaches along Flagler County’s coast are now clear from large pipes and heavy machinery.
The major Army Corps of Engineering dredging project finished on Friday over a month early and just in time for Labor Day weekend.
“Come to the new section of the beach, there’s more room to spread out,” said Ansley Wren-Key, the county’s coastal administrator.
The project consisted of dredging off the coast, bringing sand in and restoring the beaches and dunes, which took a beating during storms over the last decade.
“Any time we have a small storm, a nor’easterly wind’s blowing, the dune is interacting with the high tide line and that’s creating erosion, that will not happen here now that we have a big wide beach,” Wren-Key said.
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She said crews still have to put in some vegetation in the dunes and fencing, but the dredging is done for now.
“They’ll also see the new dunes further down in the federal section, the 19-foot dune,” she said.
The project started back in July and crews made their way north on the beach.
The other people very happy to see it done by Labor Day weekend were at the Funky Pelican restaurant on the pier. Server Stephanie Bingham said they had a drop in visitors and many didn’t know they were open during the work.
“It was a lot of noise and they were underneath and coming up to here,” she said. “It looks beautiful though, so we’re happy.”
Wren-Key said the county will continue restoring the beaches north of where the project just stopped next year.
Beachgoers hitting the sand this weekend might notice it looks a little different though besides the width. The famous red sand is now white sand on many stretches.
“The coquina sand comes from the rock right along our beaches and when we brought in sand from offshore, there is no coquina sand offshore. However, the pretty orange sand will mix back in and we will still have that unique color,” Wren-Key said.
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