Rockaway beaches back on track in time for July 4 holiday

SALVATORE LICATA

Finding a beach with a lifeguard in Rockaway should be a breeze for beachgoers — finally.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has finished its sand replenishment from Beach 60 to Beach 149 and the beaches will resume normal operation, according to Zachary Feder, a Parks Department spokesman.

The replenishment finished in time for the July 4 holiday, the busiest time on the Rockaway beachfront.

The Parks Department said it expected to have its peak complement of lifeguards on duty for the holiday weekend.

Many beachgoers were upset last weekend when they were told over 30 beaches were closed due to sand replenishment and were not given any advanced notice. But the Parks Department did say on its website there would be rolling closures, happening daily, until the project was finished.

“There were some closures while the Army Corps was working,” Feder said.

Now with the replenishment finally over, the beaches of Rockaway, which make up about half of the Parks Department beach property throughout the city, should have access similar to that of Coney Island and Orchard Beach.

However, 30 blocks of Rockaway beaches are still closed because of the nesting season of the piping plover, a federally protected bird species.

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