Virginia Beach Profile lines 3 and 4 may be classified as commercial, 

 Virginia Beach profile lines 2 and 5 and Sandbridge profile lines 9 and 10 

 may be classified as residential. Both beach areas are closed to vehic- 

 ular traffic, and the residential areas experience a moderate amount of 

 usage from sunbathers, surfers, and fishermen, and the storage of light 

 catamaran sailboats at the base of the dunes, especially during the 

 summer months. Immediately behind the beach in the commercial area of 

 Virginia Beach (profile lines 3 and 4) is a concrete boardwalk which 

 contains a vertical bulkhead, protecting the city's multistory hotels, 

 condominiums, and restaurants from the ocean waves. Although the beach 

 is only used by sun-worshir)pers during the summer months, the effects 

 of the bulkheaded boardwalk are felt all year long. The observed 

 reflection of waves off the concrete wall during storm conditions is 

 due to the absence of adequate amounts of sand. The natural post- 

 storm recovery does not occur. Thus, the beaches, if left alone, would 

 erode down to the Sandbridge Formation. It is for this reason that a 

 beach nourishment program of dumping sand from Thimble Shoals Channel 

 (in Chesapeake Bay entrance) and pumping sand to the beaches to the 

 north directly from the south side of Rudee Inlet, which traps the 

 dominant northerly transport (see Fig. 2), had to be devised. Beach 

 nourishment is discussed in Section IV, 7. 



Back Bay profiles lines 11 to 15 and False Cape lines 16, 17, and 18 

 are designated as natural areas. Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge has 

 received publicity for a number of years concerning beach access to 

 vehicular traffic, and possible effects this traffic might have on the 

 beach processes. Observations and studies by personnel of the Back 

 Bay National Wildlife Refuge (e.g.. Smith, 1972) indicated that the 

 heavy visitor traffic through and within the refuge (several hundred 

 thousand vehicle trips per year) was doing permanent damage to the 

 flora and fauna. As a result of court action (Baird, 1973; Smolen, 

 1973) vehicular access is now limited (subject to pending court appeals, 

 a revision in Federal policy, or contemplated access routes to False 

 Cape State Park) to full-time residents south of the refuge and a 

 limited number of visitors by permit. Part of the problem revolves 

 around the open question of damage to the beach by a large amount of 

 vehicular traffic. The focal point of the court action lies with 

 North Carolina property owners who work and live in Virginia and want 

 to use Back Bay for travel purposes instead of making the 3-hour trip 

 (161 kilometers) through Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 



False Cape State Park is open to vehicular traffic, but because 

 of limited access to Back Bay, traffic here is not as heavy as it could 

 be. Access to False Cape State Park, located between the Back Bay 

 National Wildlife Refuge and the Virginia-North Carolina State line 

 (Fig. 2) , is presently limited to four-wheel drive vehicles passing 



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