SC Staff Report
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to reflect a change in the start day from Monday, Dec. 18 to Tuesday, Dec. 19 for the Sanibel Beach Project.
Contractors are mobilizing equipment and preparing for the first truckloads of sand to start arriving on the island at around 6 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, when work will begin from the Donax Road Beach Access west to Gulfside City Park (Reach 4) and from Tradewinds Drive Access west to Bowman’s Beach (Reach 1).
Gulfside City Park Beach Parking Lot will be closed temporarily for approximately one week beginning Tuesday, Dec. 19. The Donax Road Beach Access is also closed until further notice.
After a delayed start, the project is expected to be completed in April 2024. Sanibel’s shoreline lost an approximate total of 600,000 tons of sand last year in Hurricane Ian, which left gullies as the storm surge water receded. This project will put about 400,000 tones of sand back on the beaches. The remainder of lost sand will be a part of a separate state project on the north end of the island.
Sand will be trucked from Vulcan Materials Company in Moore Haven, Fla., to the island and placed along the open beach, primarily between the mean-high water line and the existing dune vegetation line, as well as filling those gullies. The project has been divided into five reaches with work happening at one to two reaches at a time.
Work is expected to take place from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays with some work on Saturdays, as needed. Motorists may notice a larger concentration of trucks early in the day as they arrive with the first loads, but the trucks will be spread out along the routes as the day progresses. It will take up to 250 20-ton truck loads per work day to complete the project.
Once the project is finished, the beach profile will be very close to pre-storm conditions.
Three quarters of the roughly $22 million project cost is funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the remaining quarter is funded by the state. There will be no cost to the city.
trucking sand from Moore Haven to Sanibel…….that is the exact opposite of sustainable