Just feet away from boardwalk visitors and beachgoers is a roaring construction project that will reshape the oceanfront of one of the communities most heavily affected by Superstorm Sandy.
A beach replenishment project began Wednesday in Ortley Beach, with sand being pumped from a dredge boat offshore to the southernmost reaches of the neighborhood.
Crews will move south-to-north and complete about 300 feet of beachfront each day. About 1,000 feet of the beach – usually two to three blocks – will be closed for a few days at a time until the project is finished.
The pipeline comes ashore just north of Hiering Avenue in Seaside Heights. The beach can still be accessed from Hiering, but sunbathers are being directed south of the entrance in order to provide a wide enough berth for the pipeline and other equipment.
The project is expected to last through early October and will produce 22-foot-high vegetated dunes and extend the beachfront by at least 200 feet.
