(AUSTIN, Texas) — More than 2,555 dump truck-loads of sand are on their way to Surfside Beach, just in time for Spring Break.

Work on a $2.3 million project funded by the Texas General Land Office's Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act program began Monday. The effort will place 23,000 cubic yards of sand along 1,200 feet of beach, as well as repair a revetment credited with saving tens of millions of dollars worth of private and pubic property during hurricanes Ike and Dolly.

Apollo Environmental, from Beaumont, is the contractor for the project, which is expected to be completed by March 14. That's just in time for Spring Break, and will ensure work on the beach is completed before turtle nesting season begins.

Dangerous, exposed sheet pile debris, once part of an illegal bulkhead that has plagued surfers and beachgoers alike, will also be removed.

Beach-quality sand for the renourishment will come from the borrow site permitted by the U.S. Corps of Engineers at the port of Bay City on the Colorado River. Repairs to the revetment protecting the community of Surfside will require more than 6,000 tons of stone adjacent to the western-most 1200 feet of the revetment.

Once an iconic Texas surf spot, Surfside Beach suffers from one of the highest erosion rates on the Texas coast. Years of erosion — sometimes as much as 16 feet of beach a year — had thinned the beach to a sandy ribbon.

To learn more about the Texas General Land Office's Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act program, visit www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/caring-for-the-coast/coastal-erosion/index.html.

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