Video: Manasquan Sand Sifting Ahead of Schedule

For the last two weeks, construction equipment has picked up bulldozer buckets of sand and plopped them into a sifter, trucks have hauled off the sifted debris and left piles of clean sand along the Manasquan beachfront.

This step in repairing Manasquan's beaches after Hurricane Sandy is nearly complete, more than two weeks ahead of schedule, said Councilman Joseph Bossone in his beach committee report.

The borough budgeted 30 days for the project, but the contractor is nearly complete two weeks in, said the councilman.

"This is a great job," Bossone said. "They've finished just shy of two weeks ahead of schedule."

Borough Engineer Charles Rooney said previously the sifter flattened the mounds of moved sand, and then skim the beach 12 inches deeper than that, and place the clean sand strategically as Manasquan rebuilds its beachfront.

James R. Ientile, Inc. a Marlboro based excavating company, will do the sand sifting for $237,500. The low bid was awarded Feb. 9.

The borough estimates Hurricane Sandy pushed about 1 million cubic feet of sand into Manasquan streets, driveways, homes. The reclaming process, which pushed a Jan. deadline to Feb. 10, had residents in the first block of town pushing sand curbside while the borough asked western affected properties to haul sand back to the beachfront. Eventually 90 percent of the displaced sand was reclaimed, borough officials said.

The sifting was expected to continue nearly to April, borough officials said, but as of Monday was complete at Maine Avenue, Bossone said.