View of the Avalon beachfront taken in a northerly direction at 21st Street.  Photo by Avalon Business Administrator and Public Information Officer Scott Wahl

View of the restored Avalon beachfront taken in a northerly direction at 21st Street. Photo by Avalon Business Administrator/Public Information Officer Scott Wahl

The Borough of Avalon has completed a successful sand back passing project on its north end beachfront.  The project resulted in 55,000 cubic yards of sand being taken from a central Avalon beach and moved to areas along the north end beaches that were eroded during a four-day coastal storm event in October, 2015 and during Winter Storm Jonas, in January, 2016.

“I am very proud of the Avalon Department of Public Works for performing this essential public safety benefit project in advance of the Atlantic hurricane season”, said Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi.  “Not only did our Public Works team accomplish this extraordinary task, it also prepared other essential Borough assets for Memorial Day weekend and the summer tourism season.  Every property owner in our community appreciates the dedication to public service demonstrated by the Department of Public Works during this back passing project”.

Avalon received permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and from the United States Army Corps of Engineers to perform this back passing project.  Sand that washed away from the north end beaches was deposited on central Avalon beaches during these storm events.  Sand was scraped from the beachfront from 32nd Street to 38th Street and returned it to its place of origin.  The Avalon Department of Public Works completed the leveling of both the borrow area and the restored beachfront in advance of the June 10th-12th weekend.

During these two storm events, Avalon’s north end beaches were severely eroded.  Several beach paths in the north end were partially washed out by the abnormally high tides and rough surf conditions.  All beaches and beach paths were open in Avalon in advance of Memorial Day weekend courtesy of this back passing project.

The Avalon Department of Public Works volunteered to conduct its first-ever back passing project in behalf of the Borough instead of putting the project out to bid.  It is estimated that this project could have cost in excess of $400,000 if it was contracted to a private company.  The Borough rented some heavy equipment for the project and all of the work was performed by Borough employees.

Avalon’s Mayor and Council have been working with the state and federal agencies for a much larger hydraulic beach fill project that will be performed in advance of the 2017 hurricane and tourism seasons.