THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508200037
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
The Chief of Naval Operations watched last week as the raging ocean, churned by Hurricane Felix, battered the shoreline at Fleet Combat Training Center at Dam Neck, sending sprays of water over the dunes.
While work on a dune enhancement and sand replenishment project will begin at Dam Neck within the next two months, the admiral turned to base officials and asked, ``Any chance of speeding this up?''
Already, the $8.9 million project to rebuild Dam Neck's beach is moving at lightning speed compared to similar, neighboring projects.
To the north, a $93 million hurricane protection project at the resort strip and North End has been planned for more than 20 years. If Congress approves funding next month, it would begin next fall.
To the south, Sandbridge residents last year won a 10-year battle for sand, but funding is questionable because of federal budget cuts. If funds come through next year, the $10 million project would begin in the fall of 1997.
Both projects are jointly sponsored by the city and the Army Corps of Engineers.
At Dam Neck, however, Navy engineers have worked on saving the shoreline since the summer of 1991.
It became a priority last year, after a lingering northeaster in December 1993 ate up nearly 60 feet of dune, leaving several buildings perilously close to the ocean. At its worst, the ocean came within 6 inches of a gazebo at the officers club.
``Since 1993, storms have played much more havoc with our beaches than they did before,'' said Andy Porter, base engineer and environmental director.
If the project had gone through normal channels, funding wouldn't be available until 1998-99.
``This was urgent,'' Porter said. ``We couldn't wait that long.''
Emergency funding was approved last year. Work will begin within two months and will be complete about this time next year.
While the Dam Neck base encompasses 3 1/2 miles of Atlantic coastline, the replenishment project covers only 1 3/4 miles, where the buildings were constructed closest to the ocean. This section of beach comprises $95 million worth of facilities - including a conference center, officers quarters and a gun training area.
No buildings or equipment are close enough to the shoreline in the remaining oceanfront areas to warrant beach nourishment, Porter said.
The project will be built in two phases: the dunes and the beach.
First, a seawall fashioned out of granite rip rap will be constructed and a sand dune will be built atop it. The sand will be trucked in from an inland borrow pit.
The dune will be widened and raised to 22 feet.
Six pedestrian walkways will cross the dune, which will be sprigged with grasses.
David Basco, an Old Dominion University engineering professor and consultant on the project, said the buried granite seawall is a new concept in shoreline protection. It should be considered the second line of defense in the event the sand dune fails, he said.
Robert B. Cummings II, engineer for Glenn & Sadler who was hired to design the project, called the buried seawall ``an armored core.''
This phase will begin within two months and will be completed in early spring.
In the second phase, 680,000 cubic yards of sand will be pumped from an offshore site onto 1 3/4 miles of beach, widening it to 155 feet.
Sand replenishment will begin in the spring and will be completed in four to six months.
Two recreational beaches for Navy personnel are located within the project area. The Navy hopes to have one beach open throughout the construction.
The beach will have to be replenished about every 12 years.
Until recently, the Navy has relied primarily on natural processes to build the beach. Every year, about 7 miles of sand fencing is installed to help trap and hold sand. Beach grasses are periodically planted on the dunes.
But after the December 1993 storm, huge sandbags were placed in front of two buildings that were most threatened by erosion.
``They've held up real well,'' Porter said, adding that some repairs were necessary after several bags were punctured. ``You can see how far the dunes have receded where we have no bags.
``But the bags are a temporary structure.''
Cummings said money could be saved if the city coordinated with the Navy in future sand renourishments. A large cost of beach replenishment is mobilizing the equipment to pump sand from offshore.
``Nobody has come forward and asked us to do that,'' said James R. Wood, a civil engineer for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command who is heading up the project. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MORT FRYMAN/Staff
Sandbags along the beach at the Navy's Dam Neck facility have helped
protect some of the most vulnerable buildings, such as the officers'
club at left, but they're a stopgap measure.
Map
STAFF
KEYWORDS: BEACH EROSION SAND REPLENISHMENT by CNB