Work on South Jetty to start next week

VENICE — South Jetty repairs are planned to begin next week.

In a video posted Monday to the city’s social media page, Public Works Director Rick Simpson said the west end of Humphris Park, from which the jetty extends into the Gulf, has been closed so the West Coast Inland Navigation District can bring in materials for the project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages both jetties, will commence “the repairs we’ve all been waiting for” early next week, he says.

According to the post, the project is expected to take several weeks to complete, with that portion of the park closed for the duration.

On that timeline, the park and jetty should reopen around to the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Idalia, which forced the closure.

When it passed by the area in August 2023 on its way to making landfall in the state’s Big Bend region, it undermined large rocks supporting the walkway.

The city closed the jetty as the storm approached and never reopened it because of the damage.

Humphris Park was also closed but reopened several weeks later.

Repairs to the jetty had been expected to begin several months ago, but the city was informed the work had been pushed back to late July.

A plan to restore both jetties to their original design specifications is in the works, according to an earlier city Facebook post.

The configuration of the South Jetty is a significant factor in the loss of beach sand to the south that led to a 50-year contract with the ACOE for beach renourishment.

Renourishment projects are carried out about every 10 years, with the next one programmed for 2025.