NEWBURY — Plum Island Center is a very different place today than it was a week ago.
Buildings that a few days ago were perched on the edge of the primary dune now have a wide swath of sand between them and the ocean.
"I'm thrilled," said Northern Boulevard homeowner Steve DeSalvo, who early this year had emptied out his house because of concerns it would be undermined by beach erosion.
"It's very much what I hoped for," he said. "I think we've clearly gotten the protection we've been hoping for and what we've been working for over the last two or three years."
Planning for the project to dredge the Merrimack River channel and use the sand to replenish beaches in Salisbury and the Newbury section of Plum Island began about two years ago, conducted by a task force of federal, state and local agencies, and private stakeholders such as Plum Island Taxpayers and Associates.
The task force is called the Merrimack River Beach Alliance. It has been chaired by state Sen. Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican whose district includes Newbury.
"It's been gratifying to see this project completed in the time frame, and the way it's been completed," Tarr said. "It's a testament to teamwork."
Workers from Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. were putting the finishing touches yesterday on the $5.5 million project, grading the sand that had been dredged from the Merrimack River channel to rebuild the badly eroded beach.
The Oak Brook, Ill., company undertook the project under contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"When you come back here tomorrow morning, this will look like a pool table," said Army Corps on-site quality control manager Bob Casoli Jr.
The first Great Lakes crews and equipment arrived 41 days ago, on Sept. 3. The company will soon demobilize and move on. The centerpiece of the operation, the 320-long cutter suction dredge Illinois, will return to Norfolk, Va., Great Lakes contract manager Chris Pomfret said yesterday.
A subcontractor, SumCo Eco-contracting of Salem, will install snow fence and plant dune grass. Fencing could begin next week, according to SumCo project manager Zachary Taylor.
With the beach nourishment project nearly done, Tarr said the Beach Alliance will turn its attention to a longer-term erosion solution: repair or reconstruction of the stone jetties off Salisbury Beach and the northern tip of Plum Island.
"This was just one component of a much larger effort," he said.
The jetties, built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, help stabilize the channel and keep it from shifting.
Last repaired 40 years ago, the jetties have deteriorated and have actually been aggravating the erosion situation.
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