SEE PICS & Video > The State of NJ has officially started the 47 day dune & dredging project on the beaches of Ventnor. On Wednesday, families were forced to move their towels & chairs to make way for massive front-loader tractors transporting iron pipes along the beach. We saw kids run out in front of the tractor. Our hearts stopped.
This is, no doubt, a very dangerous dune building process. Only a fool would execute this in the middle of summer when families are enjoying the beaches of Ventnor.
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The pipe hauling tractors are also ‘threading the needle’ underneath Ventnor Pier.
If they’re not careful, they’ll damage the pilings & support system underneath the pier. The pipes were also placed, and some rolled, between the pilings/support beams. I’m no engineer, but that is not something you should do with hundreds of summer visitors on the pier and surrounding beaches.
According to the ShoreNewsToday: Ventnor Commissioner Landgraf said: “They (dune builders) are here and we will deal with it. We will hear them, they will be going 24-7. It will not be a pleasant thing, so install your air conditioners.”
“It is what it is,” said Ventnor Mayor Beth Holtzman.
Will the Mayor of Ventnor….and Congressman Frank Lobiondo, stop this dangerous activity? Who’ll take the blame if one of those iron pipes falls off the tractor….and potentially kills somebody?
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Absecon Island Construction Status Updates
General Information:
- Dredging begins June 21.
- The project will be completed from south to north, starting at Fredericksburg Avenue with the construction of the new dune, then continuing north to replenish the existing dune system.
- The pipe providing dredge sand for the project will come ashore at Fredericksburg Avenue and feed sand up the beach for the entirety of the project.
- Work will take 47 days to complete. The timeline includes approx. five days for delays due to weather or other problems.
- The entire beach will not be disrupted. Replenishment will be limited to approx. 1,000 ft. at a time (about 1-2 blocks). This area will be identified prior to lifeguards coming on duty. The rest of the beach will remain accessible.
- A gravel or sand path will provide access to the beach from the boardwalk and will continue as flat as possible over dunes.
- Equipment will be housed between the Volleyball courts and Suffolk Avenue while not in use.
As Ventnor beaches were being infested by bulldozers, flood lights, iron pipes, diesel tractors and sand pumps today, Congressman Frank LoBiondo spent the day in Avalon, protesting seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean. The soon-to-retire congressman from Ventnor calls this type of environmental activity “barbaric” and “insane”.
Lobiondo made sure to stay far away from another barbaric & insane project happening in his home town of Ventnor.
Some call dune-building in the middle of summer an ‘environmental, economic & tourism crime scene’.
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