FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Fort Myers Beach has finished placing more than 1 million cubic yards of sand for its beach renourishment project, marking the completion of a massive undertaking that has been in progress for more than a year.
Watch as Community Correspondent, Anvar Ruziev, shows you the before and after videos:
I've been covering this project for more than 2 years and as your Fort Myers Beach community correspondent. I dug deep into my archives to show the before and after transformation of the renourishment and just how much sand $40 million gets you.
The sand placement began more than a year ago on the north end of the island at Bowditch Point Park past the Pink Shell resort.
"For me it's been actually over 5 years… when I first came to the town, we saw the need with the erosional nature of the island, and it grew into a much larger project," Chadd Chustz said.
Chustz serves as Fort Myers Beach's environmental project manager. Work stretched down to Times Square and the Lani Kai, where the sand visible today is the result of months of hauling and dredging operations.
"The dredging portion of the beach renourishment project is complete. Some spots might get skinnier, some might widen out — it all depends on the time of year," Chustz said.
New sand is also visible in front of the Fort Myers Beach Library and the former Red Coconut RV Resort.
Further south at Leonardo Arms, the water once reached right up to the seawall. Now, a protective beachfront stretches in front of it.
The project faced numerous delays, including 3 hurricanes and environmental deadlines like shorebird season that pushed work back, adding challenges to an already massive undertaking.
"Those storms really set us back… we were shifting sooner than we'd liked because of environmental regulations, and whenever you change plans, things happen," Chustz said.
The project came in on budget, with the town leveraging grants and FEMA dollars to keep costs down. In total, more than 7 miles of shoreline are now reinforced with new sand.
Chustz tells me they hope to finish the dune plantings by October, which will conclude this project.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
Fort Myers Beach renourishment delayed to overlap with shorebird nesting season
SHIFTING SANDS: Fort Myers Beach starts on shoreline revival
PACKED TO FLUFFY: How the Fort Myers Beach shoreline will soon look different
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