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Lido Beach restoration project
Crews are on site and pipes will soon be in place as renourishment begins on Lido Beach. FOX 13’s Kimberly Kuizon reports.
SARASOTA, Fla. - Crews are on site and pipes will soon be in place as renourishment begins on Lido Beach.
Parts of the beach have been disappearing dating all the way back to hurricane Ian in 2022.
The City of Sarasota said a number of benefits will come from the project.
On Lido Beach, the cold didn't stop April Miravito from her walk, but she's noticed some changes.
"I would walk this beach and go all the way down on the sand side, but in November was the first time I had been down in a year and I couldn’t walk past there, I had to go up and over. There was no way to get through. It was quite shocking," she said.
The last renourishment project was completed in 2021.
After impacts from multiple hurricanes, including Ian, Helene and Milton, some parts of Lido Beach had lost 50-to-100 feet of sand.
"We probably saw up to seven feet of storm surge come in, and it moved so much sand from the beachfront as well, but then brought it over roads and places that it wasn’t ever intended to be. This is an opportunity to restore that and bring it back," said city of Sarasota Engineer, Sage Kamiya.
As part of a long-term agreement between the City of Sarasota and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a new renourishment project for 1.2-miles of Lido Beach is beginning. The goal is to strengthen Lido Beach against future storms and sea level rise.
"We anticipate probably moving up 300,000 cubic yards of sand from the new pass. There’s also the added benefit of dredging the new pass itself because there was some navigational concerns, so that’s great for boaters, habitat, to kind of bring that back as well as just water flow, new pass can see some restoration, and then we can use that sand from new pass and apply it to the beaches and get that benefit as well," said Kamiya.
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There will be some temporary spot beach closures, but crews will work to keep as much of the beach open as they work to restore Lido once more.
"This is a great project of course, for today, but it’s great for the future too. Just looking forward to being more resilient, to protecting public infrastructure, public safety and, of course, there’s wildlife habitat and just bringing the coastal and natural environment as well," said Kamiya.
What's next:
The project will cost around $12 million dollars but is fully funded by the Federal Government.
Work is expected to be finished by early April, before the height of sea turtle nesting season.
From there, a dune construction project will begin in the fall and will stretch from the Lido Beach Pavillion to the Southern Residential areas.
To find out more, click here.
The Source: Information was gathered by FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon through the City of Sarasota.