09/01/2026
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST, 3:00PM: HYDRAULIC BEACH FILL STARTS THIS EVENING, INITIAL SAND TO BE PUMPED ONTO 13TH-14TH STREET BEACHES
The federally sponsored Avalon hydraulic beach fill project is anticipated to begin Tuesday, September 1st, by 6:00pm. The dredge is currently in Townsend’s Inlet and hooked up to the sand discharge pipe. There are some changes to the sequence of events. The 13th-14th street beach paths will be closed to the public through September 4th or 5th. The walking path behind the dunes will remain open for beachgoers to walk a block to the north or south to get to the beach. During this time, Norfolk Dredging will create a large pad of sand at the discharge location at 14th Street. This will allow operational mobility at the discharge location at 14th Street for the duration of the project. Once that pad is constructed, the two beaches and paths will be reopened.
Norfolk Dredging now intends to move south to north, starting at 14th Street, and continuing moving north to the 9th Street beach. Approximately 1,000 feet of beach will be closed in the immediate work area as the project moves to 13th Street, to 12th Street, and so on. Once beaches are filled, they reopen. After the contractor completes work at 9th Street, the pipe will be removed from 14th Street to 9th Street, and the beach fill begins advancing southbound from 14th Street to 15th Street, and so on, until it finishes at or about 25th Street. The project will end sometime in mid-October. All beaches in Avalon remain open and accessible to the public except for the 1,000 feet in the immediate fill area. Work occurs 24 hours a day with no stoppage, except for a bad storm event or mechanical failure.
By sometime Wednesday afternoon, September 2nd, the 20th Street beach path will open again to the public. Norfolk Dredging will create a path on half of the beach path for equipment and emergency vehicle access; the other side of the path will be for pedestrian access. That path will only close again when the beach fill project progresses south to 20th Street. Parents, please keep your children off pipe and heavy equipment that is on the beach as those objects present safety hazards.
This project will place 941,000 cubic yards of sand on the beaches of Avalon, paid for exclusively by federal emergency funding. The United States Army Corps of Engineers directs this project. Daily updates are anticipated on the front page of the municipal website, www.avalonboro.net.
