New sand to fill beach at Lowdermilk Park in Collier County

The beach at Lowdermilk Park in Collier County will soon get a renourishment after years of erosion.

Crews will begin trucking in new sand but not everyone’s happy with the $2 million project. And some say this is not the right time to do it.

The project will cause the north parking lot to be shut down and the exit will be closed so construction trucks can have access.

Cars will be able to enter and exit at the south entrance of the park and about a half-mile of the beach will be closed at a time so crews can dump the sand.

Trucks will carry sand down I-75 from a mine in Immokalee and dump the sand – to raise and widen the beach – from Doctors Pass to Lowdermilk Park.

Why the long haul?

Project manager Andy Miller says, ”Its the only [Florida Department of Environmental Protection] approved sand source within traveling distance.”

Miller said the county uses tourism tax dollars to pay for the project, adding, ”I think the dollars are probably a little bit better than we expected because of COVID.”

And he says keeping these shores beautiful will keep people coming back.