South Ponte Vedra Beach Dune Restoration Project

South Ponte Vedra Beach sits along a five-mile stretch of coast in St. Johns County, approximately four miles north of St. Augustine Inlet. After being ravaged by a series of hurricanes and winter storms, including Hurricanes Matthew and Irma, the beach was severely eroded and in desperate need of a nourishment project.

In 2021, the First Line Coastal team was tasked with final design, bid assistance, and construction oversight for a beach fill project whose aim was to restore the beach to pre-Matthew conditions and provide storm protection to the 5-miles of residential houses backing the beach. Having taken over the project after the permitting phase, our team was given an opportunity to evaluate the project in its current state and look for potential efficiencies to not only save the county money but also help them meet their objectives through value engineering strategies. During that evaluation, the team identified several alternatives for a total cost savings to the county of nearly US$2.5 million – many of which were implemented prior to construction.

One notable element of the project that required some extra attention was the landward dune tie in. The beach fill area was backed almost exclusively by residential homes, all with a wide variety of shorefront landscapes.

Construction oversight on this project required special attention with a daily site walk through with First Line members, county staff, and the contractor to formulate a game plan for placing beach fill adjacent to the potentially sensitive structures that backed the fill template. Construction on the project was completed in July of 2022, only a few months before Hurricanes Ian and Nicole passed through, once again leaving the beaches of St. Johns County in bad shape. The residents of South Ponte Vedra Beach were grateful for the timely completion of the nourishment project, which many recognized as critical to saving their homes from a grim fate.