Construction begins on phase 1 of Amelia River Waterfront Stabilization Project

City of Fernandina Beach

October 5, 2021

The City has begun construction of Phase 1 of the long-awaited Amelia River Waterfront Stabilization Project to provide flood protection from storms and sea level rise to the downtown areas. This is the culmination of a multi-yearlong Resiliency/Hurricane Protection Study that identified current riverfront protection systems and development of methods to protect the downtown historic area.

The Phase 1 work focuses on the waterfront area from the southern end of the City’s Parking Lot D northward to the existing Boat Ramp near Ash Street and involves the installation of a “Living Shoreline” comprised of a protective reef system using oyster shell filled bags, precast concrete block mattress system to armor the existing embankment and planting of various wetland-type grasses. When completed, this shoreline system will provide protection to the uplands from waves and storm surge erosion. In addition to the shoreline protection, construction of a sheet pile seawall with concrete caps with a top elevation of 9.0 (existing ground elevation is approximately 6.0) will be installed to prevent flood waters from the river reaching the low-lying downtown area. As part of the seawall, the existing timber walkway along the river’s edge is being replaced with a more durable coquina-shell concrete walkway for pedestrian use.

This project will not impact the existing open space and parking areas landward of the flood protection system currently in progress.