Atlantic City Beach Replenishment: Solving Sand Shortage for Summer Tourism

Atlantic City Beach Replenishment Project

Atlantic City is starting a crucial beach replenishment project. This initiative responds to complaints from casinos about limited beach space. For two summers, visitors could not find enough room to relax.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the project. They will add 1.2 million cubic yards of sand to the beaches. This amount is enough to fill about 120,000 dump trucks. The beaches have eroded due to regular tides and more severe storms linked to climate change.

The last replenishment in Atlantic City occurred in 2020. The city needed more sand in 2023, but Congress did not provide funding in time. Fortunately, $38.2 million was approved this year, although it came too late for the summer season.

Next summer should see wider beaches due to this work. However, business has suffered over the last two years. Mark Giannantonio, president of Resorts Casino Hotel, mentioned the impact: “You have thousands of people here on a nice summer day, and there’s no beach for them to go on.” This situation affects all businesses in the area.

Casinos such as Hard Rock and Ocean pushed for faster action on this project since they are in the hardest-hit areas. Ocean Casino spent $600,000 to bring sand in themselves, but that sand quickly washed away, leaving an even smaller beach this summer.

Bill Callahan, Ocean’s general manager, stated, “For a destination resort, it’s imperative to have a beach.”

The project will focus on the heavily eroded northern section of Atlantic City. It will also include parts of Ventnor and improvements in nearby Margate and Longport. Plans entail repairs to dunes, sand fencing, access paths, and dune grass planting.

The Army Corps expects the work to finish in two to four months. Beach replenishment is also happening on Long Beach Island in places like Harvey Cedars, Beach Haven, and Long Beach Township.