Virginia Beach, Va. - A project to replenish the sand on the beach in the Sandbridge section of Virginia Beach will begin in December.
The US Army Corps of Engineers awarded the contract for the work to Weeks Marine out of Camden, New Jersey.
It will be the fifth beach replenishment Weeks Marine has done in Virginia Beach.
The $15,350,000 project will add 2 million cubic yards of sand along a 5-mile stretch of the beach between Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge to the Dam Neck Naval Base.
Sandbridge resident Sisty Cersley is glad to see the long-awaited replenishment project comes to fruition.
"I think it's important to have the beach replenished," Cersley said. "Every time there's a large storm that comes through here there's a lot of beach erosion and it's very easy to see how important it is to get the beach replenished."
Upkeep of the beaches through sand replenishment is one reason that visitors like Louise Roberts of Powhatan, Virginia keep returning to Sandbridge.
"We kind of rediscovered the area a few years ago and yes we are very struck with really how well it is kept and maintained," Roberts said.
The sand replenishment project in Sandbridge is scheduled to be completed by May 15, 2013.
