Six days a week, sand trucks drive on Naples Beach. Crews have laid mats across the sand for the equipment, and spotters watch the trucks as they travel along the beach to the fenced section where sand is being placed. The county says the beach stays open and usable throughout. But until about Christmas, the stretch from Doctors Pass to just south of 21st Avenue South runs on a contractor's schedule. Two details of that schedule matter most to anyone who walks to the water from an Old Naples street.
The first is time. Collier County's project notice sets work hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday, so every Sunday and the Thanksgiving break are free of the work. The second is place. For the first time in recent memory, the south end of Old Naples has its own truck entrance.
Two Doors In, and Only One Open at a Time
The county's bid documents name two public beach accesses as construction entrances, one at 3rd Avenue North and one at 17th Avenue South. One bidder asked whether the contractor could run trucks through both at once and work toward the middle. The county's answer, posted on its procurement Q&A on August 27, was short: "Only one designated beach access point will be allowed at one time during construction."
Under that rule, on any working day, all the trucks come in through a single entrance, either the north one or the one at 17th Avenue South. They drive along the sand to wherever crews are working. WINK News reported that the trucks follow two designated routes to the north and south access points, and that drivers near those sites should expect some traffic.
The north entrance sits in a busy part of the beach. The City of Naples beach access status page lists 3rd Avenue North as closed for the separate Stormwater Beach Outfall Project. It lists the same closure for 1st, 2nd, 4th and 8th Avenues North and for Central Avenue. That project's own site says roadway, drainage and water main work on Gulf Shore Boulevard between 1st Avenue North and 2nd Avenue South will continue through the end of 2026. So the north end of the renourishment overlaps a construction zone that was already there.
Nearly Twice the Trucks of the Last Downtown Haul
The last time Collier County trucked sand onto this beach was the fall of 2021. That project was smaller in every measure, and it reached less of Old Naples.
2021 project | 2026 project | |
|---|---|---|
Reach | Lowdermilk Park to the Naples Pier | Doctors Pass to just south of 21st Avenue South |
Sand | About 105,000 tons | More than 208,000 tons |
Trucks | About 4,773 dump-truck loads | About 9,450 truck trips |
Beach entrances | 3rd Avenue North | 3rd Avenue North and 17th Avenue South, one at a time |
Start | Scheduled for November 1 | First sand placed October 26 |
The reach is the biggest change. The 2021 work, as described in Naples City Council minutes, stopped at the Pier at 12th Avenue South. This year's work keeps going south past 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th Avenues South to a point just beyond 21st Avenue South. That is why the project needed a second entrance at 17th Avenue South. In 2021 the trucks came in only at 3rd Avenue North.
The 2021 project also shows that the trucks' street routes can change once hauling starts. That fall, WINK described a return route north on Gulf Shore Boulevard to Mooring Line Drive. After complaints, the county moved that return route to Fourth Avenue North, as the Naples Daily News reported in November 2021. Those were the 2021 routes, and this year's project has its own two designated routes.
The Calendar the Beach Runs On
The sand comes from Stewart Mining in Immokalee. Every load makes the inland drive before it reaches the shore. Placement started Monday, October 26. By this Thursday the work is in its third week. The Naples Daily News and WINK both put the finish around Christmas. The county's own target is before the end of 2026.
Spread the county's 9,450 truck trips across the Monday-through-Saturday days between October 26 and Christmas, leaving out the Thanksgiving break, and you get about 200 trips per working day. That averages more than 15 an hour over a 12-hour shift. Those trucks all come through whichever entrance is in use that day.
For a morning walk, a swim or an afternoon with visiting family, the calendar is simple:
- Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.: Crews are working. The beach stays open, but small sections are fenced wherever sand is being placed, and trucks drive along the beach to reach them.
- Before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m.: Outside the work hours. That covers early walks on working days, though in late fall the sun sets before crews stop at 7 p.m.
- Sundays: No scheduled work.
- Thanksgiving, November 26 through 29: The county has scheduled a full pause, so the beach has four straight days without trucks two weeks from publication.
The fenced sections move. WINK reported that restrictions lift as crews finish each area, so the closed stretch travels along the beach over the coming weeks. A beach end that is quiet this week can be the busy one next week.
Which Old Naples Beach Ends Are Open
Two other projects affect the beach ends besides the sand work. The City's access status page lists 12th Avenue South as closed for the Naples Pier rebuild. It lists every other Old Naples beach end from 1st through 18th Avenue South as open, including the 17th Avenue South entrance. On either side of the Pier, Broad Avenue South and 13th Avenue South are both listed as open with restrooms. That makes them the two beach ends near the center of Old Naples with facilities while 12th Avenue South is closed. Lowdermilk Park is also listed as open.
The city says the order of its own access work may shift with site conditions, weather and contractor coordination, and that it updates the page regularly. For anyone planning a beach morning around a particular end, that page gives the current list.
Who Pays for the Sand, and Why It Is Needed
The county puts the overall project at about $8 million. That includes about $5 million for the hauling and placement contract, which went to Earth Tech Enterprises of Fort Myers on October 13 as the lowest responsive bidder of five, plus $2.4 million for the sand itself. The commissioners' meeting agenda lists the contract at $5,094,200. The money comes from the Tourist Development Tax, the bed tax paid by people staying in Collier County accommodations. The county plans to seek FEMA reimbursement for costs tied to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. In practice, visitors' hotel stays are paying for the wider beach that full-time residents will use all year.
Those two 2024 storms took much of the sand that this project is putting back. One beachgoer told WINK that the current sand is harder to walk on than the softer sand of the year before.
Questions about where crews are working on a given day go to the county's Coastal Zone Management section, which lists Andy Miller as section manager, at 239-252-2922 or [email protected].
If you own along the beach blocks, particularly near 17th Avenue South, and you're timing a showing, a family visit or a closing around the truck schedule, Eileen Komanecky can help you plan around the work. Let's Connect.
