Supersize: Broadkill Beach keeps growing

Parts of Broadkill Beach along Delaware Bay have transformed from a storm-ravaged, eroded strip of sand to a supersized beach and tourist attraction.

But it's all so new that when first-time visitor Jill Gettle, of Myerstown, Pennsylvania, took her morning walk on Monday, her Map My Walk app showed her not walking on the broad, soft, sandy beach but out in the deep water of Delaware Bay.

"They haven't updated yet," she said.

Gettle and her husband Matt had read about the project in the news but this was their first trip to Broadkill.

"I think they did a really nice job with it," Matt Gettle said.

For many, it's the ebb and flow of the heavy, earth-moving equipment and the slurry of sand and water spilling out of a caged pipeline drawing them to Broadkill now – along with the surprise of driving down Del. 16 and seeing not Delaware Bay, but a ridge of sand.

That tiny beach was what Michael Johnson, of Lincoln, was used to.

"I was surprised," he said. "I think it's pretty nice it's just a long way to walk. Normally the water would be close to the houses."

And that was the primary goal of this wider beach and dune, to provide the 600 homes at Broadkill protection from coastal storms.

The Army Corps of Engineers project combines two initiatives, deepening the lowest reach of the Delaware River main shipping channel from 40 to 45 feet and using the dredgings to restore the badly eroded and storm-damaged shoreline at Broadkill with 1.9 million cubic yards of sand from the channel.

Of the $63 million total cost, about $30 million is being spent to pump the sand and create what some have described as a "megabeach."

Jim Bailey, president of the Broadkill Beach Preservation Association, said he anticipates just one possible complaint – that the walk to the beach is too far, something already voiced by visitors like Johnson, who was at the beach to fish with his three children.

"It's worth it," Bailey said. "There will be some growing pains. There will be some inconvenience."

Broadkill Beach residents and property owners have dealt with flooding and storm damage for the last decade, most recently during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and a few subsequent nor'easters.

State crews have periodically come in with truckloads of sand to protect the bayfront homes in the most vulnerable areas. Sand for Broadkill is coming from the lower reach deepening of Delaware Bay, sand that is pollution free, according to analysis done by the corps' consultants.

The project isn't costing Delaware or the Delaware bayfront community a penny, though the state will pay to create permanent dune crossings, put up sand fencing and plant the dune with beach grass – work that could cost as much as $1 million.

Because Broadkill was in such bad condition to start with, the project has been slightly different from other Delaware beach renourishment projects.

"They had to build a platform, first," said Anthony P. Pratt, the state shoreline and waterway manager.

Building up a small beach first allowed dredge and beach crews to begin to pile sand into the Delaware Bay and extend the beach as much as 140 feet from the old shoreline.

In the places where work is complete, the old beach now sits behind a 16-foot-tall dune. The new beach extends beyond that and will ultimately be about 200 feet wide.

Pratt said Broadkill has never had a beach this wide.

Both state and local officials anticipate the wider beach and dune will help protect the community from storm damage.

Bailey said one of his biggest concerns is that the unplanted dune may be damaged by people who walk on it. There are designated dune crossings but some folks are just climbing right up the dune and walking along the ridge, he said.

Similar things have happened during other beach renourishments and state crews have gone in and reformed the dunes before they were planted, Pratt said.

Cheri Roe and Terry Hobbs, of Milton, brought their dog Zoe to see the beach on Monday – their first visit to the "new Broadkill."

"It's wonderful," Roe said. "Wow."

The work started at the middle of the community and has been moving north. The dredge and equipment are now working off West Virginia Avenue. Once the north end is complete, the work will shift back to the center and work to the south – the section that has sustained the greatest storm damage in recent years.

Reach Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow @MollyMurraytnj on Twitter.