Starting around Monday, October 26, dump trucks loaded at Stewart Mining in Immokalee are expected to start arriving in the City of Naples and driving onto the beach. Together they will bring more than 208,000 tons of beach-quality sand. The new sand will cover 3.5 miles of shoreline, from Doctors Pass at the north end down to just south of 21st Avenue South. Collier County commissioners approved the work on October 13.
The beach does not close for any of this. Crews will fence off one small area at a time, and that work area moves along the shore in a set order. So your stretch of beach will be busy for some weeks of the season and quiet for others. Which weeks depends on whether your beach access is north of Third Avenue North, between Third Avenue North and the pier, or south of the pier.
Three phases, and the order matters
As the Bradenton Herald reported in a USA TODAY Network story, county coastal zone manager Andy Miller told commissioners that crews would mobilize on or near October 23 and that trucks would be rolling into the city by October 26. He then gave the order of the work.
- Doctors Pass to Third Avenue North. The northern end of the project goes first.
- The Naples Pier back up to Third Avenue North. Crews then jump south to the pier and work north toward where the first phase ended.
- Everything south of the pier. The last phase runs down to the southern end of the project, just past 21st Avenue South.
Because of that order, the north end of the beach should see trucks first in late October and early November. Owners south of the pier will probably see their stretch done last. Miller told the commission he hoped about 60% of the project would be finished by Thanksgiving. He said the whole job should be completed right before Christmas "if we get good production."
That condition matters. Neither the county nor Miller gave dates for individual phases, and the Christmas finish depends on how fast the work goes. If the trucks fall behind, the south end is where it will show, because that section comes last.
What a working week looks like
The county's October 13 announcement sets the hours. Trucks run Monday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and crews take the Thanksgiving holiday weekend off.
| Window | Activity on the beach |
|---|---|
| On or near Oct. 23 | Equipment mobilization and staging setup |
| By Oct. 26 | Dump trucks begin arriving in the city |
| Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Hauling, dumping and spreading sand |
| Sundays | No scheduled work |
| Nov. 26 to Nov. 29 | Thanksgiving break, no work |
| Target by Thanksgiving | About 60% of the project complete |
| Target before Christmas | Full 3.5 miles complete |
The work runs twelve hours a day, so early-morning beach walks and late-afternoon swims both fall inside working hours. Sundays and the four days of Thanksgiving weekend are the only full days with no trucks scheduled.
Sharing the sand with trucks, spotters and the end of turtle season
According to the county, the beach "will continue to be open and usable to the public." Crews will fence off only the small area where they are placing sand. Spotters will watch the trucks as they drive along the beach to the work site.
The timing also lines up with the last week of turtle season. The City of Naples lists sea turtle season as May 1 through October 31, so trucks are expected on the sand during its final days. The city's sea turtle page showed 556 nests and 421 nests hatched on city beaches as of September 21, 2026. That was a count partway through the season, not the final total.
The county says its crews are working to keep "beachgoers, crews, sea turtles, shorebirds, and all creatures" safe. Shorebird monitoring is a line item in the project budget, next to engineering, permitting and inspections.
South of the pier, the sand work comes last
The stretch south of the pier, the last phase, is also where the city's biggest beach construction project is already underway. Work on rebuilding the Naples Pier has reached a milestone. The city says the last of 193 reinforced-concrete pilings was driven on October 7, and a mid-pavilion pour on September 18 pushed the concrete work past the halfway mark. The current projection is for the pier to reopen in July 2027.
During the rebuild, the pier and 12th Avenue South west of Gulf Shore Boulevard South are closed. The west third of the pier parking lot stays open. Broad Avenue South and 13th Avenue South serve as open walkways to the beach around the closure, and both have restrooms.
The area around the pier has been a construction site since the rebuild began. Starting with the second phase, renourishment crews will be working out from the pier as well, first north toward Third Avenue North and then south. The City of Naples pier project page is the best place to check access around 12th Avenue South before heading down.
Who pays, and why the trucks keep coming back
The county estimates the total cost at about $8 million. That includes about $5 million for the Earth Tech Enterprises contract and $2.4 million for the sand itself. The rest covers engineering design, permitting, inspections and shorebird monitoring. Earth Tech is based in Fort Myers, has done business in Florida since 2000, and was the lowest qualified bidder of the five companies that bid. It has handled several earlier Collier County renourishment projects.
Spread over 3.5 miles, that works out to roughly 59,000 tons of sand and about $2.3 million per mile of beach.
The money comes from the county's tourist development tax, the bed tax on hotel rooms and other short stays. According to the USA TODAY Network report, the county collects a 5% tax on those stays and puts more than 42% of it toward beaches, inlets, passes and beach parks. Part of this project may be covered by Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene recovery funding. The county plans to ask FEMA to reimburse the hurricane-related costs, and to ask the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for cost-share money if the project qualifies.
This kind of work comes around regularly. In an April notice, the county said its Coastal Zone Management Section has run 15 beach renourishment truck-haul projects over the past 10 years. That count does not include four emergency beach berm projects finished in 2023 after Hurricane Ian.
The same April 7 notice explains how trucks reach the beach in front of private homes. The county relies on temporary beach renourishment easements from property owners. These let crews reach beach areas behind private homes and condominiums to stage equipment and place sand. The county also says the same easements allow daily debris removal, emergency cleanups after red tide fish kills, and dune maintenance. It asked owners and communities along Naples Beach to contact [email protected]. This is general information, not legal advice. An owner considering an easement request should review the terms with their own attorney.
For questions about the schedule, the county lists its Coastal Zone Management Section at [email protected] and (239) 252-2922.
If you own on the Gulf and want to talk through how a season like this affects the beach in front of your property, whether you plan to stay, rebuild or sell, Anthony Caraballo is available for a private consultation. He can walk you through the timing and the project details with the discretion your property deserves.
