Oak Island takes on largest non-emergency beach nourishment in 25 years
OAK ISLAND, NC (WWAY-TV) – Oak Island is undertaking it largest non-emergency beach nourishment project in over 25 years.
Since mid-November, crews have been moving hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sand on Oak Island’s beach.
Brandon Grant, an engineer for the project said sand is dredged 18 miles off-shore and brought to a pump out station one mile from the beach. Then the sand travels in underwater pipes and pumped onto the beach where bulldozers move it into place.
The town said the project will bring more than 1.6 million cubic yards of new sand onto the beach, that’s enough to cover three football fields – three feet deep with sand. The project began mid-November and they are already 1/3 done.
Mike Emory, communications manager, for the town of Oak Island said this project is a major undertaking.
“While there have been some reactionary efforts after hurricanes or other disasters, this is the largest non-emergency project certainly by volume and efforts in 25 years or so,” Emory said.
Emory said the project involved decades worth of planning, surveying, and logistics.
“The goal for this project is to get us that five-to-six-year preventative maintenance schedule so that we’re not working from a reactionary standpoint but more or less from a preventative maintenance standpoint,” Emory said.
Emory said the project aims to be wrapped up by mid-February 2026 and should not be a hinderance for beachgoers.
“It’s not something that if the should be worried about ‘I’m coming here next summer, you know, is there gonna be a bulldozer in front of my house?’” Emory said. “No this has to operate within the winter season.”
