Duval County's beaches have received top honors from a national organization dedicated to shore preservation and renourishment.
The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association named the Duval County Shore Protection Project one of this year’s best beach recovery efforts.
The project saw the U.S. Corps of Engineers, and the cities of Jacksonville, Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach all working together to repair eight miles of shoreline damaged by Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Irma a year later. Hanna Park’s shoreline was also renourished.
"Our beaches are a big part of what makes our city a unique and attractive destination for our residents and visitors," said Mayor Lenny Curry in an email to WJCT News.
Hurricane Matthew caused a loss of about 680,000 cubic yards (or the equivalent of about 206 Olympic swimming pools) of sand from the beaches in October 2016.
The Corps of Engineers was able to take advantage of existing beach construction contracts to cost-effectively repair the beaches after Hurricane Matthew, and again following Irma.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.
