Florida Construction News staff writer
The City of Boca Raton has been recognized with a Best Restored Beach Award from the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) for a multi-jurisdictional collaboration of the shoreline adjacent to, and south of, the City’s southernmost beach.
“The joint project, led by the City of Boca Raton, demonstrated Boca Raton’s commitment to enhancing its coastal shoreline and maintaining successful relationships with adjacent communities while maximizing dollars invested in coastal projects and minimizing disruption to beachgoers,” said Lauren Burack, the city’s civil engineer.
Beaches were restored in the City of Boca Raton, the City of Deerfield Beach and the Town of Hillsboro Beach using the Boca Raton Inlet ebb shoal as the sand source. Combining the projects led to a cost savings for all three municipalities while enhancing bypassing from sand trapped in the Boca Raton ebb tidal delta.
Historically, each municipality constructed their own projects individually with Boca Raton using dredged material from the ebb shoal and Deerfield Beach and Hillsboro Beach using truck-hauled sand from upland mines. The tri-party agreement allowed municipalities to share permits, costs, and work together to accomplish a common goal of better serving the community and enhancing the environment.
Work included:
- Sand placement started at South Inlet Park beach in Boca Raton and continued south beyond the city limits to the beaches of Deerfield Beach and the Town of Hillsboro Beach.
- 4-mile beach renourishment project maximized the dredging volumes and lowered the dredge mobilization cost for all municipalities.
- Over the course of 9 weeks, South Inlet Park beach was extended by about 100 feet.
- Approximately 370,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from the Boca Raton inlet ebb shoal.
- Continuous environmental monitoring was a top priority as this work occurred during sea turtle nesting season.
The ASBPA’s annual award acknowledges community beach restoration projects around the United States which increase a shoreline’s resiliency, the beach’s ability to mitigate storm damage and flooding from severe storms, and naturally allow the beach to adjust to short-term sea level rise while remaining an important part of the nearshore ecosystem.
Projects are judged on:
- economic and ecological benefits
- short and long term success of the restoration project
- challenges each community overcame during the project
Learn more on the City’s Coastal Management webpage.
