News & Updates
U.S. Rep. Posey Tours Canaveral Harbor Federal Sand Bypass Project
Congressman applauds Port Canaveral for its leadership and commitment to environmental stewardship.
(Photo: Canaveral Port Authority)
U.S. Rep. Bill Posey (FL-08) praised the soon-to-be-completed Canaveral Harbor Sand Bypass Project (Phase 5) as a unified effort that keeps Port Canaveral’s economic engine running while restoring 3.5 miles of shoreline south of Canaveral Inlet to the pre-inlet levels of the early 1950s.
Canaveral Port Authority Commission Chairman Micah Loyd led a tour by water of Port Canaveral for the Congressman to review progress on the nearly completed Sand Bypass Project and to highlight critical current and future Port infrastructure projects. Joining the tour was U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Colonel Andrew Kelly, Commander and District Engineer for the Jacksonville District. The Corps is the federally authorized agency that funded, administered and managed the project.
“The Sand Bypass Project is a very important project to our community and critical to preserving this coastal region,” Chairman Loyd said. “We are thankful for the support from Congressman Posey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for their support and commitment to coastal resiliency.”
Speaking on Earth Day 2019, Posey said the sand bypass effort captures the spirit of this year’s Earth Day theme to protect plant and animal species from extinction.
“Our port is a leader, not only in economic development, but also is a pioneering leader in caring for our environment,” said Posey, who is a founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Estuary Caucus. “We have learned that our economic well-being depends upon the health of our ecology. We take care of ourselves when we take care of our environment.”
“The Sand Bypass Project is a key element of the Port’s long-term inlet management plan to protect our coastal environment while ensuring continued economic growth,” Posey said at a press conference at Jetty Park after a boat tour of the replenished coastline. “Now, residents and visitors alike enjoy restored beaches and benefit from the recreation and storm protection that the beaches provide.”
When completed in early May, the six-month long Canaveral Harbor Sand Bypass Project – the largest volume effort in the Port Canaveral area since the first in 1995 – will have pumped almost 1.4 million cubic yards of sand taken from the shoreline north of Port Canaveral along Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to beaches south of the Canaveral Inlet from Jetty Park to less than a half-mile south of the Cocoa Beach Pier. Locally sponsored by the Canaveral Port Authority and funded and administered by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the federally authorized $18-million effort is bringing the Jetty Park shoreline and points south in Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach to pre-Port levels of the 1950s.
(Canaveral Port Authority)
U.S. Army Corps Commander Col. Andrew Kelly said the latest sand bypass project at the Port is the fifth such effort since 1995. “It’s a great honor for us to be here and to be able to do this at the end of this very important project,” Kelly said.
Posey also lauded the Corps of Engineers, the state of Florida, federal and state environmental agencies, the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Brevard Country Natural Resource Management Department and the cities of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach for their roles in the project’s success.
Hi-res photos can be downloaded by clicking the link below*
*Credit: Canaveral Port Authority
https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/r5IhZCxKmX
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