Town of Nags Head
10 miles of shoreline from the Bonnett Street public beach access near milepost 11, south to the town line with the National Park Service near milepost 21
August 19, 2019
Beach nourishment sand pumping operations were completed early on Sunday morning, August 18, 2019 in the 8200 block of South Old Oregon Inlet Road near Mile Post 17.
Thank you for your patience with this project and for your understanding of how critical it is to our town.
Nourishment projects are designed and constructed to take advantage of the natural forces, such as waves and currents, to move sand offshore. This process results in a natural sloping beach within the littoral zone (the area between the low and high tide lines), and is referred to as profile equilibration (or profile adjustment). The process of profile equilibration, which typically occurs within 12 months following sand placement (depending on storms), dramatically decreases the width of dry beach from the very wide beach observed immediately after nourishment. This decrease in beach width (profile equilibration) is often misunderstood as the failure of the beach nourishment project. For more information, read the American Shore and Beach Preservation white paper: Beach nourishment profile equilibration: What to expect after sand is placed on a beach.
The Gulfstream public beach access just south of Jennette's Pier near Mile Post 16.5 is closed to vehicles (but not pedestrians) until August 27, 2019 while our nourishment contractor removes their equipment from the beach.
The installation of sand fencing and sea oats, which can withstand arid conditions, is still taking place in Nags Head's south end.
The Juncos Street public beach access is still being used by the sand fencing/sprigging contractor, but the access remains open.
The Forrest Street public beach access near Mile Post 15.5 remains closed to parking, however pedestrians may still use the access.
