Construction is set to begin in Mantoloking on a $23 million steel wall in July, local officials said today. Here, an aerial view of Herbert Street is seen where the ocean breached the barrier island and met Barnegat Bay during Hurricane Sandy. (Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger)

Construction of a four-mile long steel wall going up along a stretch of the Jersey Shore ripped apart during Hurricane Sandy is expected to begin next month.

Chris Niebling, the deputy operation chief of Mantoloking's Office of Emergency Management, said today that crews plan to start work in the borough the week of July 7 by Herbert Street, an area where the ocean met the bay during the 2012 storm.

Niebling said though the borough has been working to bulk up its dune since the storm, the town remains exposed to severe weather. "We need the wall to go in," he said after a borough council meeting today. And once the wall is complete, he said, the town needs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with a beach replenishment and protection project.

The state Department of Environmental Protection awarded a $23.8 million contract to Springfield-based EIC Associates in May to build the steel wall that will stretch from Lyman Street in Mantoloking through Brick. The firm will drive 45-foot tall steel sheets 30 feet into the ground.

The Federal Highway Administration is picking up 80 percent of the cost of the project, with the state paying the rest of the tab.

This article originally published in New Jersey

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