Silver Beach shoreline restoration project nearly finished

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. -- Silver Beach has undergone construction to restore the park’s shrinking shoreline.

This is all due to rising water levels that have caused erosion over the years, so both Berrien County and St. Joseph city officials partnered to fund the installation of barricades that now line the beach and will be up for the next two years.

While they are still pursuing a long-term solution, they say if they didn’t act now, it was bound to start impacting sidewalks and streets and this construction will protect against further erosion.

“It’s essentially a wire basket with a fabric liner that’s then filled with sand, they’re connected together to form a semi-permanent wall,” said Brian Dissette, Berrien County Administrator. “Unfortunately, the rocks do impact the public’s access to lake, so just throwing down rocks isn’t always the best solution and it is something we’ll be weighing the pros and cons of as we look to the future.”

The project cost the county and city a total of $135,000 and is now nearly complete just about two months after getting started.