Sand-starved Dania Beach is getting an emergency infusion of that gritty stuff that gets washed away every year.
Sand by the truckload is being brought in and deposited on the northern half of the beach near the pier.
Crews began the work Monday and are trying to meet a Friday deadline.
The work of placing 120 truckloads of sand on the beach has to be done during low tides. That’s because at high tide, the beach gets so narrow there’s no room for the trucks, Commissioner Bill Harris said.
On Tuesday, a woman vacationing from New York watched from the pier as bulldozers maneuvered along the sand like giant beach toys.
Some beach-goers were surprised to see bulldozers on the sand and portions of the parking lot cordoned off by orange fencing and barricades.
Dania lost much of its beach last year when Tropical Storm Alberto blew through town. The storm swept away 150 palm trees and most of the sand dune that acts as a buffer between the beach and the parking lot.
By the end of the week, Dania’s eroding shoreline will be a bit plumper thanks to 120 truckloads of sand brought in from a sand mine near Lake Okeechobee.
But this mini-project, compliments of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is just buying time for a much bigger renourishment project designed to puff up beaches in Dania Beach, Hollywood and Hallandale Beach.
That endeavor — a $50 million beach renourishment project paid for with county, state and federal dollars — is two years away.
The work going on now is part of a $7.9 million Army Corps effort to renourish 7.2 miles of shoreline from Dania south to Hallandale Beach.
It’s hard not to notice the disappearing beach, says Alison Hector, a Dania Beach resident who works as a manager at the Quarterdeck restaurant that overlooks the pier.
“At low tide we have a ton of beach and at high tide we have nothing,” she said.
But all the commotion on the beach doesn’t seem to be keeping people away, Hector said.
“It’s almost entertaining,” she said. “I almost want to see what that big Tonka truck is gonna do.”
Pembroke Pines resident Joni Dennebaum and her friend Shaye Soto, of Plantation, took the bulldozers in stride.
“It’s still quieter than Fort Lauderdale or Hollywood,” Soto said while lounging on a beach towel north of the pier.
“You get to hear the waves,” added Dennebaum.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4554. Find her on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan.