About a tenth of a mile of beach and swimming area in Buxton will be temporarily closed to the public starting Aug. 3 while the southernmost groin is repaired.
The work is taking place in conjunction with a beach nourishment project in the Hatteras Island village expected to begin this week.
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Dare County commissioners, during a special meeting June 15, voted to award $8.6 million to repair the groin to SJ Hamill Construction Co. “which has the experience, resources and project history necessary to successfully complete this type of coastal construction,” according to the county. The marine and heavy civil contractor is based in Charleston, South Carolina.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials said Monday that the 600 feet of beach flanking the site where the work is taking place, as well as the adjacent ocean area to the east, will be closed until repairs are complete. The county anticipates that to be by the end of the year, but if weather or material lead times cause delays, the contractor must have the project fully completed by June 1, 2027.
The groin being repaired is one of three the U.S. Navy constructed in 1970 in response to coastal erosion adjacent to Naval Facility Cape Hatteras, now known as the Buxton Beach Access or Buxton Formerly Used Defense Site. Two groins were built to the north of the former location of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and one just south.
The park service granted the permit in April for the permitted repairs that include the removal of deteriorated materials and installation of new steel sheet piles, with stone scour protection at the base to help prevent erosion.
For the beach nourishment project intended to protect N.C. 12 from ocean hazards, the Houston, Texas-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. is to begin this week the roughly three-month project to place 2 million cubic yards of sand along Buxton’s beachfront, according a county July 14 update.
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