The Sea Bright–Monmouth Beach Seawall is a

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation ...

located along the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...

in the

Monmouth County, New Jersey Monmouth County () is a county located on the coast of central New Jersey. The county is part of the New York metropolitan area and is situated along the northern half of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population w ...

towns of Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach. It roughly runs north-south direction along of the

barrier A barrier or barricade is a physical structure which blocks or impedes something. Barrier may also refer to: Places * Barrier, Kentucky, a community in the United States * Barrier, Voerendaal, a place in the municipality of Voerendaal, Netherla ...

spit of land along the lower

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern en ...

peninsula between the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and the

Shrewsbury River The Shrewsbury River is a short stream and navigable estuary. The stream is approximately 8 mi (13 km) long and is located in Central New Jersey. It extends east-northeast from its head of navigation at Oceanport to its confluence with ...

estuary. The use of seawalls, groins,

jetties A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

, bulkheads,

revetment A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water ...

, and

beach nourishment Beach nourishment (also referred to as beach renourishment, beach replenishment, or sand replenishment) describes a process by which sediment, usually sand, lost through longshore drift or erosion is replaced from other sources. A wider beach ca ...

since the late 1800s has made the stretch of coast one of the most heavily engineered sections of ocean shorefront in the world. The

effects Effect may refer to: * A result or change of something ** List of effects ** Cause and effect, an idiom describing causality Pharmacy and pharmacology * Drug effect, a change resulting from the administration of a drug ** Therapeutic effect, a ...

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

wrought serious damage to the area in 2012. The reconstruction of the seawall, including new construction of in gaps where it had not previously existed began in 2017 and will be completed in 2018. The storm precipitated reconsideration of seawalls and other methods of

coastal protection Coastal management is defence against flooding and erosion, and techniques that stop erosion to claim lands. Protection against rising sea levels in the 21st century is crucial, as sea level rise accelerates due to climate change. Changes in s ...

to mitigate

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...

s and

sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...

along the coast.

Geography and jurisdiction

The Sea Bright communities of Navesink Beach, Normandie, Downtown, and Low Moor and the northern portion of Monmouth Beach, known as

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

, are located on the

spit of land south of the

peninsula (part of the

Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bi ...

) between the

and the

estuary. The peninsula is generally wide with an elevation of between and and forms western approach to the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable water ...

. The seawall begins south of the

Highlands – Sea Bright Bridge Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

and lies between the beach and Route 36, locally known as Ocean Avenue, which is part of the

New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route The New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route extends along eastern and southern coast of New Jersey for nearly 300 miles. It travels along the Raritan Bay from Perth Amboy to Sandy Hook, along Jersey Shore at the Atlantic Ocean to Cape May, and a ...

. The

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staff o ...

(NJDEP) Division of Coastal Engineering is responsible for coastal protection along the

based on the New Jersey Shore Protection Master Plan developed in 1981. The

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

(USACE) New York District coordinates the projects. In 2016 the USACE and the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...

produced a comprehensive restoration plan for the extended harbor region, which included proposals to mitigate the effects of sea-level rise through projects to restore natural areas. In the

aftermath Aftermath may refer to: Companies * Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing * Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre * Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company * Aftermath Services, an Americ ...

in 2012 funding for seawall reconstruction has been provided by the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

(FEMA).

Seawall

Development of the area began in the 1860s when the coast became a resort. Since then the use of seawalls, groins (jetties), bulkheads,

, and

has made the stretch of coast one of the most heavily engineered sections of ocean shorefront in the world. As described by geologist

Orrin H. Pilkey Orrin H. Pilkey (born September 19, 1934) is an American Professor Emeritus of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, at Duke University, and founder and director emeritus of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines ...

the beaches have been "New Jerseyized", meaning to say that the beaches have (at one time or another) all but eroded completely leaving seawalls or the detritus of previous ones.

New Jersey Southern Railroad New Jersey Southern RR and connections The New Jersey Southern Railroad was a railroad that started in 1854. It would continue under this name until the 1870s as a separate company and the lines that it had constructed or run continued to be run i ...

built a 2,000-foot trestle and a seawall on the ocean side of the narrow peninsula in the 1870s, and rebuilt it again in 1881. To protect Fort Hancock the U.S. Army constructed a seawall between Sandy Hook and Sea Bright in 1898. At times there was not beachfront between Sandy Hook and Long Branch. The seawall was built in phases between 1914 and 1962. The parent of NJS, the

Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...

abandoned the property in 1950. The state did not opt to buy the strip of land that had been the railroad's right of way. The state built a new seawall starting in 1946 into the 1950s. By the late 1980s, the seawall had seriously deteriorated and repairs were undertaken in 1990. The region has experienced serious storms and hurricanes including those in 1938, 1944, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1962, 1972, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1991.

in 2012 devastated the shore. As of 2015, the funds allocated for the project to repair and/or replace the seawall was $34,827,594.00, 90 percent of which came from

(FEMA), with the State of New Jersey funding the remaining 10 percent. The reconstruction of the seawall, including new construction of in gaps where it had not previously existed was set to begin in 2017. The height of the wall is approximately .

Beach nourishment

Since the

Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash is ...

beaches along the shores of the East Coast have been regularly replenished with sand pumped in from off-shore. A multi-year project in for replacing sand began in 1994 by the USACE and originally completed in 2001 and been renourished 4 times since then. After Hurricane Sandy, approximately 5 million cubic yards of sand from the beaches in the area were washed away. The USACE in 2014 replaced more than 8 million cubic yards of sand thus restoring the project area to its original design profile. The practice has become controversial due to environmental and economic concerns.

Beach access

The parent of NJS, the

abandoned the property in 1950. The state did not opt to buy the strip of the land that had been the railroad's right of way. Parts of the land came into the hands of private property owners. As outlined in the Public Trust Doctrine, public access is the "ability of the public to pass physically and visually to, from and along the ocean shore", including perpendicular and linear access. Beach access on and beyond the seawall has been unclear or contentious in Sea Bright and less so in Monmouth Beach. A 1993 agreement between the State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and nine private beach clubs in Sea Bright allowed easements along club's oceanfront for replenishment project. The general public was only permitted to walk along 15-foot swath of sand above the water line, but not otherwise use the beach. In 2010, the

Superior Court of New Jersey The Superior Court is the state court in the U.S. state of New Jersey, with statewide trial and appellate jurisdiction. The New Jersey Constitution of 1947 establishes the power of the New Jersey courts.Jeffrey S. Mandel, New Jersey Appellate Pra ...

voided the agreement. After an appeal one club which had contested was also ordered by the

Appellate Court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

to comply.

Geography and jurisdiction

Seawall

Beach nourishment

Beach access

See also

References

Further reading