BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – The Mexico Beach Nutrition Restoration Project is a comprehensive project that will cover 3 miles of beach at a cost of $27 million.
When Hurricane Michael hit the area in 2018 most of the sand was washed away along with many buildings. After 6 years officials say they are ready to re-nourish the beach for the first time.
Mexico Beach council members are moving forward with a multi-phase engineering project
“This project was in the works before Hurricane Michael. So basically my team and I and our wonderful partners, the Bay County TDC, the Bay County Board of County Commissioners have been helping work on this project for almost eight years. So, we’re very excited to see it happen. “We’re excited to start shoveling and really strengthening what is already an amazing beach, because that’s what this project is going to do,” said Mexico Beach Community Development Council president, Kimberly Shoaf.
Weeks Marine Construction Company will arrive on site. They will position their equipment to extract a million cubic yards of sand from a borrow pit with sand quality similar to Mexico Beach.
Then they will use a dredge to dig up that sand, bring it to the beach and spread it.
Mexico Beach will bring electric charging ports to the city
“And this project consists of both a beach and a dune raising component. So different areas of Mexico Beach will have the dune enhancement itself, where the entire Mexico Beach area will have dune and shoreline enhancement,” Shoaf said.
It will begin the week of January 6, and is expected to be completed by April 15. The development of the dunes will help better protect residents from storms.
“We’re going to widen the beach and refill or rebuild or reconstruct the dunes to provide more protection from a future hurricane and beautification immediately,” said Mexico City Manager Chris Truitt.
The project is fully funded by state and federal dollars.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, go to mypanhandle.com.
Source link
