LONG BRANCH A $40 million federal beach replenishment project is set to get underway in Long Branch next week, officials announced today.

Even before Hurricane Sandy decimated much of New Jerseys coastline, beaches in Long Branch were narrow. Because of Sandys 10-foot storm surges, local officials said its even more imperative for the beach widening work.

Sandy severely damaged our beaches and caused serious erosion that needs to be repaired to protect us from future storms, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6th Dist.) said at Pier Village in the Monmouth County city. With this critical beach replenishment project getting under way, we are moving a step closer toward recovering from Superstorm Sandy and rebuilding the Shore.

Pallone visited the area earlier today with Col. Paul Owen, commander of the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which designed the project.

Long Branch is the third of four phases of the Army Corps work to reconstruct the coastline from Sea Bright to Manasquan. Work has already been completed in Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach. Work on the section from Belmar to Manasquan started last week and another section, from Avon-by-the-Sea to Asbury Park, is scheduled to start in January.

The Long Branch project will start at Pier Village and end at Lake Takanassee about two miles to the south. When that section is finished, work will begin on the nearly three miles of the citys northern beaches to the Monmouth Beach border.

The last of the Monmouth County phases, from the Elberon section of Long Branch to Loch Arbour, is expected to start next fall. This section never had beach replenishment so local and federal officials are working to obtain easements and to design the project, Pallone said.

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$40M replenishment project to begin on Long Branch beaches next week