Jetties Pose Safety Hazard: City of Long Beach

LONG BEACH, NY — The City of Long Beach is asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reconstruct eight jetties deemed a danger to swimmers, surfers and other beachgoers.

The Long Beach Herald reports that in a letter to the Corps’ New York district, Joseph Fabrizio, the city’s public works commissioner, expressed concern about the structural stability of eight jetties, or groins, which were not rebuilt and where significant beach erosion remains, creating “a serious safety issue and public hazard resulting from sand placement over portions of the existing structures.”

The city is concerned that during high tide, beachgoers may unknowingly come in contact with these eight rocky jetties, the Herald reports.

After the loss of significant sand on the beach during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the city initiated a project with the Corps to rehabilitate 18 jetties from Long Beach’s West End to Point Lookout. But the eight jetties in question were not rebuilt. Febrizio asked the Corps to secure about $70 million in funds left unused from the project to reconstruct the eight groins.

The Corps maintains that the eight groins are “functioning as designed” to hold the sand and stop beach erosion, the Herald reports.