Dunes at Shoal Harbor Shoreline Restoration

Dunes at Shoal Harbor is a residential community situated adjacent to both the Raritan Bay and the New York City Ferry channel in Port Monmouth, NJ. This site was previously utilized for industrial purposes and consisted of various docking/berthing facilitates. In order to build the community, these facilities were partially demolished and a significantly undersized stone revetment was constructed. However, during heavy storm events like Hurricane Sandy, the homes were subjected to direct wave attack and flooding, which resulted in damage to the homes, destruction of the beach access, and failure of the stone revetment, leaving the existing site-wide stormwater management basin and outfall non-functional. 

For this project, Princeton Hydro performed a wave attack analysis commensurate with a Category 3 hurricane event and determined that the appropriate revetment/boulder size was 5 tons. Princeton Hydro completed the site design for shoreline protection consisting of installing a rock revetment to an elevation above the 100-year floodplain elevation. Consistent with the wave attack analysis, 4-foot diameter boulders were used in the construction of the revetment. The project also consisted of replacing a failed elevated timber walkway with a concrete slab-on-grade walkway, restoring portions of the existing bulkhead, clearing existing invasive vegetation, planting native coastal vegetation, and installing fencing along the dune to facilitate natural dune growth. In addition, the failed stormwater basin and outlet were restored. These measures are intended to discourage future erosion of the shoreline, protect the residential community from future wave attacks and flooding, and create suitable habitat for a variety of native and migratory species.