PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. — It’s Spring Break, and the beach is busy, with tourists enjoying the sand south of Port Canaveral.

What You Need To Know

  • The US Army Corps of Engineers and Brevard County Natural Resources have teamed up on the Canaveral Sand Bypass Project

  • Tourism leaders say the beaches are the top reason people visit the Space Coast

  • Congressman Mike Haridopolos got a tour of the coast and says this project is a perfect example of return on investment

  • PREVIOUS: Port Canaveral beach renourishment project is well underway

And a project is wrapping up that restored the same beaches battered by hurricanes and storms.

Sarah Horton is enjoying some family beach time on the beach at Jetty Park. She is from Pensacola and is visiting her parents who live in Merritt Island.

Horton remembers the damage done to beaches there when Hurricane Michael roared through, along with the recent efforts to repair erosion.

“They were replenishing the beaches all through the winter. We saw a ship and a long tube come up, and the beach almost doubled in size,” Horton said.

That is similar to the erosion seen on Brevard beaches for the past couple of months.

The US Army Corps of Engineers and Brevard County Natural Resources have teamed up on the Canaveral Sand Bypass Project.

The goal is to remove sand buildup from the north side of the entrance to the port, and funnel it through submerged pipelines to replenish the areas of Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and 10 miles down to Patrick Space Force Base.

“Much further, which required more equipment, these booster pumps you see offshore, we brought in two of them to get the sand that far, 10 miles, so it’s a bigger, better, farther project,” says Chris Ren of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Tourism leaders say the beaches are the top reason people visit the Space Coast, bringing in some $2 billion a year.

Congressman Mike Haridopolos got a tour of the coast and says this project is a perfect example of return on investment.

“If we lose this beach, we lose those tourists who pay 25 percent of our sales taxes," Haridopolos said. "If we lost this beach, the property values go down and the property values go down, so this is a win-win scenario."

The Army Corps say they saved $20 million by the federal government and county teaming up on the $41 million project.

This new method is also saving sand that would otherwise be lost in the ocean.

That sand is being used to renourish the mid and south Brevard County beaches.