Berm project reaches Marco Island in time for hurricane season 2023

Reporter: Tiffany Rizzo Writer: Joey Pellegrino
Published: Updated:

The emergency berm project in Collier County is nearly wrapped up, reaching the beaches of Marco Island just in time for hurricane season.

If you are heading to South Beach in the next couple of weeks, keep in mind they will have contractors and dump trucks out working on the emergency beach berm project. Twenty to 30 dump trucks will be lining South Collier Boulevard each morning between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. as they work to add about 37,000 tons of sand to South Beach.

Trucks will be entering through Cape Marco throughout the day, reducing traffic along South Collier Boulevard to one lane. The Marco Island Police Department and the contractor’s flagmen will help direct traffic.

The county will also have sea turtle monitors on the beach each morning, roping off any sea turtle nests and reporting those locations to the contractors so they can avoid working in those areas.

The original start date was May 30, but the project was delayed to Tuesday. Residents have been understanding about it so far.

“So it’s good; it’s supposed to protect the shoreline,” one beachgoer said. “The trucks just go in and out straight, so, not too bad.”

“I kinda heard of it, but it didn’t bother me,” another person said. “You know, that’s progress. Well, anything that protects the general public is good.”

“At the end of the day, it makes the beach better for everybody else,” said Liz Beth. “We can understand.”

“You can see it right here by the barrier,” said Terry Bonkowski. “Yeah, it doesn’t bother me at all.”

“I mean, there’s gonna be a lot of truck traffic,” said Jim Amstadt. “But, yeah, it’s got to be done so, you know, a minor inconvenience for a short period of time.”

Crews will start at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, and the project is expected to last two weeks.

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