As Beaches Shrink, Feds Award Contract for Replenishment in Delray Beach

Sunbathers in Delray Beach have seen the width of the city’s oceanfront shrink precipitously in recent weeks, with storms over the last month eroding sand and forcing beachgoers to share a tiny strip of sand in the area near Atlantic Avenue – the epicenter of the city’s award-winning beach. Help, however, is on the way.

An eroded beach berm in Delray Beach, FL forces sunbathers into a small strip of sand in anticipation of a renourishment project, Oct. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

The federal government has awarded a $19,180,000 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company to perform a renourishment project along the length of the Delray Beach oceanfront. The project will see the delivery of an initial 450,000 cubic yards of sand alongside a fully permitted “template beach repair,” adding an additional 750,000 cubic yards of advanced fill sand to provide additional storm protection and widen recreational beaches.

The contracting announcement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville district comes as beaches in town have shrunk to their skinniest levels in years, with the beach berm – the portion of sand between the dune and the ocean where beachgoers spread their blankets and post their umbrellas – measuring little more than 10 to 15 feet at the time of high tide. During the recent full moon phase in the run-up to this year’s “King Tide” expected next month, waves reached the toe of the dune and, in some cases, eroded chunks of sand and dune grass from the dune itself. Beachgoers have been crammed into a small strip of dry sand, especially in the center of the city near Atlantic Avenue and the area just south of it.

In some areas, small “cliffs” have formed where the dune itself meets the beach berm, representing chunks that have been subject to erosion due to wave action.

An eroded beach berm in Delray Beach, FL forces sunbathers into a small strip of sand in anticipation of a renourishment project, Oct. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock confirmed work would begin in the third quarter of 2025, with local officials adding more specifically that it was expected to commence very shortly after the state’s sea turtle nesting season ends Oct. 31. The renourishment project will officially continue until April 2026, though major beach fill operations are expected to wrap up before the nesting season picks up again in March 2026. Beaches will remain open during the project, with the contractor closing about 300 feet – about one to two blocks – worth of oceanfront at a time to pump sand.

Sand is pumped onshore from a donor site on the bottom of the ocean – usually about a mile offshore – that has been determined to contain the proper quality through a network of pipes, then spread by heavy equipment on the shore. Bulldozers expand the dune line where needed and grade the beach berm at a pre-determined angle. It is expected that, over time, the beach berm will naturally get smaller as some sand is washed out into the ocean where it forms a protective berm that attenuates wave action as an extra way to mitigate storm damage. The project is rounded out by dune maintenance, wherein the dune is rebuilt to an engineered specification and new vegetation is planted.

An eroded beach berm in Delray Beach, FL forces sunbathers into a small strip of sand in anticipation of a renourishment project, Oct. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

In June, Delray Beach officials approved a cost share agreement with Palm Beach County that calls for the county to fund 20 percent of the city’s share, in addition to the 50 percent of the total project cost covered by the state. In all, Delray Beach has committed to fund a $5.4 million portion of the project.

The initial replenishment project area for Palm Beach County also included the pumping of sand onto beaches along the northern half of Boca Raton, however engineering studies performed last year indicated those beaches were large enough to avoid qualifying for the 2025-26 renourishment effort.