PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. — Over the next five months, portions of the beach in the Port Canaveral area will be closed. The largest sand bypass project in two decades is now underway.

  • Beach renourishment project underway in Port Canaveral
  • Project to replenish 3.5 miles of beach south of Port Canaveral
  • Goal to preserve wildlife habitat, keep shoreline away from properties

The project will move sand to replenish 3.5 miles of beach south of Port Canaveral due to the man made harbor interrupting the natural drift of sand causing it to accumulate in the north part of the inlet by the air force station. The 18 million dollar project is funded by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Canaveral Port Authority, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The sand placement will widen the beach by about 150 feet and while the project is going on, public access to the sections of the beach will be limited and last about three to five days as the work continues.

“It's designed to move almost 1.4 million cubic yard of sand thats accumulated north on the Cape Canaveral air force station and place it on the beaches to maintain it at their pre-historic level before Canaveral harbor was here,” Director of Environmental Port Canaveral, Bob Musser explains.

The goal is to preserve the wildlife habitat, like the sea turtles place to nests, and keep the shoreline away from waterfront properties.

Jan Davis calls Cape Canaveral her home and lives on the third floor of a waterfront property. She lives in one of her condos and rents the other one year round and says it's a good thing they are working on preserving the coast line. Davis explains that she and her husband have seen beach re-nourishment projects before and find it fascinating. She's looking forward to watching the heavy machinery at work once it reaches her part of the beach.

The sand bypass project is done during the winter to not disrupt sea turtle nesting season. The project will run until the end of April, ending half a mile south from the Cocoa Beach Pier.​