CLARK POINT, NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS 
The purpose of the investigation was to determine the best method 
of restoration and stabilization of the city beaches along Rodney French 
Boulevard on the east and west sides of the Clark Point Peninsula. New 
Bedford is located in Bristol County about 50 miles south of Boston. The 
shores studied are located on the east and west sides of Clark Point, a 
peninsula projecting into Buzzards Bay. The peninsula consists of glacial 
deposits. Beaches fronting the low banks are narrow. The total length of 
the study area is about 3 miles, including about 1 mile of frontage on 
the outer tip of the point occupied by Fort Rodman, a Federal military 
reservation. New Bedford is a residential and industrial community with 
a permanent population of about 102,000. The shore of the study area is 
publicly owned except for about 0.1 mile on the east side of the point. 
The beaches are used for recreational purposes. The tides in the study 
area are semi-diurnal. The mean and spring ranges are respectively 3.7 
and 4.6 feet. The maximum tide of record, 14.2 feet above mean low water, 
occurred during the hurricane of September 1938. Tides in excess of 3 feet 
above mean high water occur about once in 2 years. The shores of the study 
area are exposed to waves up to about 6 feet high from the south generated 
in the limited fetch of Buzzards Bay. This portion of Buzzards Bay is cut 
off from the full fetch of the Atlantic Ocean by the Elizabeth Islands and 
Martha's Vineyard. Beach material has been supplied to the shore of the 
study area by northward littoral transport from erosion of Clark Point 
headland. Protection of the headland shore has reduced this supply with 
resultant erosion of the beaches. 
The Division Engineer developed plans for restoration and stabiliza- 
tion of the beaches. He concluded that practicable plans for protection 
and improvement of the shores where recreational beaches are required 
comprise sand fills and groin construction, and that for shores where no 
fronting beach exists, stone revetment or rubble-mound wall construction 
is practicable. He developed two alternative plans for protecting and 
improving Rodney French Boulevard West Beach; alternative No. 1 comprises 
raising the inshore end of an existing groin, lengthening two existing 
groins, and widening the beach by direct placement of sand fill; alter- 
native No. 2 comprises raising the inshore end of the same existing groin, 
constructing three new intermediate groins, and widening the beach by 
direct placement of sand fill. He also developed a plan comprising beach 
fill and two new groins for improving Rodney French Boulevard East Beach, 
and typical plans comprising stone revetment or rubble-mound wall for 
critical sections along Rodney French Boulevard West where no beaches 
exist. The Division Engineer concluded that work at the west beach is 
justified by evaluated benefits but that the public interest in projects 
for the east beach or other city-owned areas is insufficient to warrant 
Federal aid. He recommended a project providing for Federal participation 
in amount equal to one-third of the first costs of either alternative for 
the west beach, subject to certain conditions. 
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