Long Beach Island is an 18-mile long  barrier island located in southern Ocean County, New Jersey. The area has historically suffered damages from coastal storms, hurricanes and nor'easters. The Barnegat Inlet to Little Egg Inlet Coastal Storm Risk Management project, also known as the Long Beach Island beachfill project, is designed to reduce the risk of loss of lives and damages to property and infrastructure from the waves, erosion, high tides and surges associated with these storm events. The project provides flood and coastal storm risk management along Long Beach Island, which includes the municipalities of Harvey Cedars, Surf City, Ship Bottom, Beach Haven and Long Beach Township.  The project features include a beachfill with a dune crest width of 30 feet at elevation +22 feet above the North American Vertical Datum 1988 (NAVD 88), and a berm width of 125 ft (measured from centerline of the dune) at elevation +8 ft NAVD 88, various types of dune crossovers, sand fencing, and the planting of multiple species of native dune grasses.  Periodic nourishment is authorized on a 7-year cycle.  The completed project extends continuously from the north end of Loveladies (part of Long Beach Township) to the south end of Holgate (also part of Long Beach Township). The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is the non-federal cost sharing sponsor for this project. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) completed the “New Jersey Shore Protection, Barnegat Inlet to Little Egg Inlet Final Feasibility Report and Integrated Environmental Impact Statement” in September 1999, which defined the project that maximized the National Economic Development benefits for reduced risk of coastal storm damage. The feasibility study investigated flood and coastal storm damage effects between the two inlets. The study involved extensive engineering, environmental, and economic analyses and recommended the construction of a dune and berm system with the intent of reducing impacts from coastal erosion and storms. The Report of the Chief of Engineers was released in July 2000, and Congress authorized construction of the project in the Water Resources Development Act of 2000. 

A Project Cooperation Agreement was executed in August 2005 between the non-Federal Sponsor, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the Department of the Army represented by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.  As a consequence of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, Congress passed Public Law, the “Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013”, which authorized supplemental appropriations to complete the initial construction of the project.  A new Project Partnership Agreement was executed in July 2014 between the NJDEP and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.

The Long Beach Island project was only partially completed when Hurricane Sandy hit the New Jersey shore. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) completed the initial construction of the project at Surf City in 2006; Harvey Cedars in 2010; and Brant Beach between 31st and 57th Streets in Long Beach Township in 2012. USACE repaired beaches in Surf City and Harvey Cedars in 2012 due to damages from Hurricane Irene the previous year, and fully restored the beaches within all three communities after Hurricane Sandy in 2013.  The restoration and repair work was funded 100 percent through the Army Corps’ Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies program.  In December 2014, USACE awarded a contract to the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company to complete initial construction of the remaining areas of the Long Beach Island project.  Beachfill operations were completed in November of 2016.  This latter phase of initial construction was funded entirely by the federal government through the 2013 Disaster Relief Appropriations Act,  commonly known as the Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill.  In 2018, the project received funding to repair damages from two significant nor'easter storms, Joaquin and Jonas and complete periodic nourishment.  After the completion of initial construction in 2016, the project was turned over to the non-federal sponsor, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for continuing Operations and Maintenance. The project is eligible for continued periodic nourishment.