Atlantic City’s Eroding Beaches Finally Receive Sand

Climate change and beach erosion affect businesses in Atlantic City, New Jersey. With beach sand washing away slowly season after season, the coastal casino resort city received sand for its beaches in 2020 for the last time. While the seaside resort city was due to receive sand for its beaches last year, the delivery was ultimately delayed due to legislative issues related to Congress’ failure to approve funding for such a project.

Eroding Beaches to Receive Sand

Now, as announced by the Associated Press, Atlantic City’s shoreline will receive an estimated 1.2 million cubic yards of sand. The massive project that will focus on widening the shoreline of the casino resort city will be completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

The large-scale project is expected to be completed over the next two to four months. Notably, heavily eroded beaches in front of properties such as Hard Rock Atlantic City, Resorts Casino Hotel and Ocean Casino Resort will benefit the most from the sand replenishment.

Still, the project will seek to overall improve the shoreline of Atlantic City, with an estimated 120,000 dump trucks expecting to carry sand in the months to come. Besides in coastal resort city, the replenishment of sand and restoring of the beachline will affect nearby Beach Haven, Long Beach Island and Long Beach Township, among other areas north of AC.

Narrow Beaches Are Bad for Business

Undoubtedly, 2020 was a difficult year for hotel and casino operators in Atlantic City. The pandemic disrupted traveling, temporarily shut businesses and overall resulted in losses in billions. In addition to the pandemic, the eroding beaches of the coastal resort city further affected tourism.

“For a destination resort, which is what we present ourselves as, it’s absolutely imperative to have a beach. It affects us when people come down and see that it’s not here,“

Bill Callahan, general manager at Ocean Casino Resort

Bill Callahan, Ocean Casino Resort’s general manager, who was interviewed by the Associated Press, revealed that a proper beach line is a must-have. He added that the shrinking shoreline impacted Ocean’s business and left many people disappointed.

Considering the eroding shoreline, Ocean decided to deliver sand for its beach at its own expense last year. Overall, the operator spent some $600,000 to resand its beach.

While it is unclear if those expenses may be covered by the project, the efforts of the US Army Corps of Engineers will undoubtedly help restore Atlantic City’s beaches, at least for some time.