the northwest 

The Northwest section runs from North Point, at the northwestern tip of the island, east to Bathing Beach Road at Jetties Beach and includes Eel Point, Dionis, Steps and Jetties beaches. The  report prepared by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) identified 12 private structures across 23 separate properties in the Northwest section.

Many of the structures are periodically repaired to maintain their structural integrity. All have been built in the last 40 years. Of these structures, half were hard structures and the other half were soft structures.

The following types of structures were identified: fences, bulkheads, beach grass, groins, plantings, zigzag fences, rock walls, gabion baskets and sand replenishment efforts.

The majority of structures were found to be structurally stable and 58% of the structures were showing signs of visible accretion of sand. However, 42% of structures showed signs of both accretion and erosion, 75% of structures were showing signs of erosion and 25% of structures showed signs of scouring on either end of the structures. 

Source: “Evaluating Coastal Erosion Structures, An Interactive Qualifying Project,” December 18, 2014, p. 47. Submitted to the Faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science by Lauren Hunt (Aerospace Engineering 2016), Christopher Sample (Mechanical Engineering 2016) and Kathleen Sullivan (Mechanical Engineering 2016). The full Report is available on this site under Erosion Overview, Resources.

northwest gallery