New York District Collaborates with New York Department of Parks and Recreation

BY VINCE ELIAS, New York District

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New York District in May 2019 marked the completion of maintenance dredging of the East Rockaway Inlet on Long Island, New York.

The announcement of the project completion was made by Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, chief of engineers, and the mayor of New York City at an official news event held in mid-May 2019 on the boardwalk.

Since April 2019, the USACE contractor, Weeks Marine of Cranford, New Jersey, performed the maintenance dredging of East Rockaway Inlet and used the dredged sand to re-nourish and restore Rockaway Beach between Beach 92nd Street and Beach 105th Street. The work was completed in time for the beginning of the 2019 hurricane season.

“This is just another example of the fantastic work the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does on a regular basis both in New York and across the nation,” said Col. Thomas Asbery, USACE’s New York District commander. “Our crews worked 24/7 to get this project done because it’s vital to the residents of this community. Our efforts to beneficially reuse the dredged material to restore this section of the Rockaway’s heavily eroded shorefront will provide additional coastal storm risk reduction benefits and increase resiliency in advance of hurricane season. I would like to thank our partners at the city, state, and federal levels for their enthusiasm and support of this project.”

“For New Yorkers, summer means Rockaway Beach,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “That’s why I could not be happier to announce we will have the entire beach open in time for Memorial Day weekend.”

“This project required the removal of 348,000 cubic yards,” said Semonite. “If you put that in a football field, it would be about 20 stories high. This is a tremendous accomplishment, and I couldn’t be prouder of our entire USACE team.”

It took a month of round-the-clock sand-dredging to replenish the beach, not only for recreation and livelihoods. “This project will help protect those who live along the shoreline moreso from future storms that will likely come our way,” said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Milhorn, commander, USACE North Atlantic Division.

The beaches were closed last year due to significant erosion in the wake of two back-to-back nor’easters in 2018, in an area still recovering from the effects of Superstorm Sandy. New York District awarded the contract for $10.7 million to Weeks Marine to perform needed maintenance dredging of the East Rockaway Inlet Federal Navigation Channel. The city contributed $2.7 million to pump the sand 2.5 miles farther west along Rockaway Beach in order to restore this section of the beaches, which experienced significant erosion as a result of storms.

The work will also restore and ensure safe passage for both commercial and recreational vessel traffic through East Rockaway Inlet.

Aerial view of work in progress, East Rockaway Beach, New York.

New York District Photo

The project’s success can be attributed to the Army Corps’ New York District partnership with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation as well as significant cooperation at the state and federal levels.

Aerial view of work in progress, East Rockaway Beach, New York.

“The close relationship with the Army Corps and New York City has been phenomenal in the process of completing this project,” said Alexander Gregory, project manager, New York District. “We are even more excited about the prompt turnaround [and that] the contractor was able to complete the project before the start of hurricane season.”

In August 2019, Semonite signed the Chief’s Report for the Atlantic Coast of New York East Rockaway Inlet to Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay Hurricane Sandy Reformulation Study – a crucial milestone for the proposed project.

This report will authorize the construction, at 100 percent federal cost, of new erosion control features, such as jetties or groins, additional beach fill and reinforced dunes, as well as flood risk reduction features on both the Atlantic and bayside shoreline of the Rockaway peninsula.

The plan also calls for increased beach berm with 1.6 million cubic yards of sand for initial placement, the extension of five groins already in place, and the construction of 13 new groins – all designed to help reduce the risk from future coastal storms and provide additional resiliency for the residents of this community.