Massachusetts Town Doubles Down on Sand Dunes Washed Away by Storm
Salisbury Beach is the unlucky Massachusetts town that recently made headlines when its half-million dollar beach preservation project was immediately destroyed by a large storm. Now they have the funds to do it again, but bigger this time.
Back in March, beachfront residents of Salisbury invested $565,000 to install 14,000 tons of protective sand dunes on the beach. Mere days later, a large storm hit and washed most of the barrier away. Though it initially seemed like the residents of Salisbury were being punished for defying nature, proponents of the project pointed out that it had actually worked as intended. “If the dunes weren’t repaired over the last five weeks we would be talking about maybe 10 to 15 houses the Atlantic Ocean would have eaten up,” wrote The Salisbury Beach Citizens for Change group, the organization responsible for facilitating the project and helping raise funds, on social media. “The sacrificial dunes did their job. The shock was it happened three days after the project was finished.”
The town will now receive $1.75 million from the state to further mitigate storm erosion. The money will be used to place around 30,000 tons of sand along the dunes. Furthermore, the project is just the beginning of a $6 million long-term strategic plan. In the plan’s first phase, the dunes will be restored to an elevation of 17 feet above sea level. Phase two will raise the dunes to 19 feet and extend their volume further toward the water.
Senate minority leader Bruce Tarr told Boston.com, “Now the plan can move forward, and not a moment too soon, to protect public infrastructure such as state Route 1A, marshlands that sequester carbon from our environment and defend Salisbury and surrounding communities, and a public beach that generates significant contributions to the regional economy and provides the priceless opportunity to recreate for thousands of people every summer.”
The new round of beach nourishment is expected to begin in mid-September.
The post Massachusetts Town Doubles Down on Sand Dunes Washed Away by Storm first appeared on The Inertia.
