The Volusia County Coastal Division has selected INTERA-GEC, LLC to provide coastal engineering services for post-Hurricane Nicole beach restoration efforts. The two-pronged project includes separate strategies to restore the beaches north and south of Ponce de Leon Inlet. For the north beaches, the County is coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to use beach quality dredge materials from upcoming maintenance dredging of the inlet and Intracoastal Waterway. USACE will hydraulically dredge and pump the anticipated 700,000 cubic yards of sand into a large stockpile area on the adjacent beach, and the County will truck and place the stockpiled sand along 5 to 10 miles of shoreline. South of the inlet, the County will offload 550,000 cubic yards of sand from Florida Inland Navigation District’s Rattlesnake Island dredge material management area and place the sand along approximately 5 miles of beach via hydraulic dredge.
For both projects, INTERA-GEC will design the dune/berm fill templates, conduct site assessments including mapping/characterization of environmental resources and protected species habitat, obtain permits from Florida Department of Environmental Protection and USACE, assist the County with bid administration and contractor selection, and provide daily construction observation and coordination services. This is an important win for INTERA-GEC, as highlighted by Mark Gosselin, VP of Coastal Services at INTERA, when he stated “It is our first win of a beach project that includes design, permitting and construction observation. I couldn’t be more proud of the job Mike Trudnak and Mike Krecic did in securing this win for INTERA."
