Tweed River Sand Bypass: Concepts and Progress

The objectives of the Tweed River Entrance Sand Bypassing Project on Australia’s east coast are to establish and maintain a navigable entrance to the Tweed River and to enhance and maintain the southern Gold Coast beaches, with the objectives to be achieved in perpetuity. The joint project of the New South Wales and Queensland State Governments with the support of the Gold Coast City Council offers the opportunity to achieve this co-operatively in partnership. Agreements have been established. The environmental impact assessment of the first stage (initial dredging and nourishment) has been completed, and the first component of these works involving over 2.2Mm³ of sand was successfully completed in August 1996. Environmental impact assessment and design studies for the second stage (the permanent bypassing system) are in progress. The paper describes the overall project and its key features, the investigations and analyses undertaken to date, the identified impacts, the initial dredging and nourishment works, and the issues being investigated for the permanent system.