TREASURE ISLAND, Fla — After more than a month of being closed to restore dunes and plant vegetation, Sunset Beach is expected to reopen to visitors on Saturday morning.
The city of Treasure Island says that its emergency sand dune restoration project on Sunset Beach was finally complete and the final stages of planting native vegetation were wrapping up.
The nearly $6 million project to restore parts of Treasure Island's 40-year-old beach dune system that was damaged by Hurricane Idalia was announced back in early September. The project area consisted of the beach south of Caddy's Treasure Island, located at 9000 W. Gulf Boulevard, including all beach parking lots.
To help remind beachgoers, the county and city are installing signs instructing people where to walk when heading to the beach. There will be designated pathways through the dunes to allow people to cross over safely and keep the dunes from being trampled on.
Crews are also inspecting the parking lots in the area to make sure they are ready to reopen as well, city officials said in a news release.
"I want to thank the Pinellas County Commission and staff for funding and administering this Emergency Dune Restoration project, the City was happy to partner as the boots on the ground to inform, educate and collect the necessary construction easements from property owners that enabled the project to move forward," Treasure Island City Manager Amy Davis said in a statement.
"It is amazing what can get accomplished when we all work together and that is what it took to get this project completed."