Coquina Sands Beach Renourishment Fall 2026: Access and Schedule

All six public ways onto the sand in Coquina Sands are open, from the Horizon Way, Vedado Way and Via Miramar beach ends to Admiralty Point, the Gulf Towers pathway and Lowdermilk Park. Six accesses just to the south remain closed. This is also the stretch where Collier County's newest beach renourishment begins, with equipment staging set for late October and sand placement to follow.

So the trucks are the shorter of the two disruptions on the north end of Naples Beach. The County expects to finish the renourishment before the end of 2026. The City's stormwater work a few blocks south is projected to run until May 2027. For the next ten weeks, Coquina Sands will be open the whole time and getting wider as the sand goes down.

Six ways onto the sand, all open

The City of Naples beach access status page lists each public access by name. The City notes that the order of work can shift with site conditions and weather, so treat the table as a current snapshot. As of mid-October, the Coquina Sands section reads like this:

The "construction complete" notes on the three residential beach ends come from the City's Public Beach Access Restoration Project, which is rebuilding beach ends in phases. As each beach end is reconstructed, new memorial benches are installed and the City is working to replace plaques damaged by Hurricane Ian. The Coquina Sands phase of that work is done, so the beach ends people use most are already finished.

Just south, the closures last into 2027

Past Lowdermilk, the status column changes. The 8th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st Avenue North accesses and Central Avenue are all closed for the Stormwater Beach Outfall Project. 7th Avenue North, North Lake Drive and 6th Avenue North are open between them.

The outfall project removes all eight city stormwater outfall pipes from the beach. Its work zone runs along the Gulf Shore Boulevard right-of-way from Oleander Drive to just south of 2nd Avenue South. The City's May update said the outfall pipes at the 8th Avenue North and 3rd Avenue North pump stations had been installed by horizontal directional drilling and were being tested. It forecast the 3rd Avenue North station would be running in August and the 8th Avenue North station finished in September. By August 11, the Naples Daily News reported that each of the project's four major components was more than 60% complete, according to the City.

Even with those pump-station milestones forecast for late summer, the City still lists the six accesses as closed, and its May 2026 project update puts the end of the overall project at May 2027. The project website still says the 8th and 3rd Avenue North accesses are closed "until summer 2026." The City's newer updates have replaced that wording.

So for this whole season, the nearest open access north of the closures is Lowdermilk Park, and the Coquina Sands beach ends follow from there.

What the trucks change, and what stays the same

On October 13, the Collier County Board of County Commissioners awarded the hauling contract to Earth Tech Enterprises Inc. of Fort Myers, the lowest responsive bidder of five. The County says Earth Tech has handled several earlier Collier renourishment projects. According to the County's announcement, trucks will carry more than 208,000 tons of beach-quality sand from Stewart Mining in Immokalee. Crews will spread it along 3.5 miles of beach between state reference monument R-58A+300 at Doctors Pass and R-79, just south of 21st Avenue South.

Doctors Pass is the northern end of the project. That puts the whole Coquina Sands beachfront inside the project area, from the inlet south past Lowdermilk.

The beach stays open. The County says it will remain "open and usable to the public," with small areas fenced off where sand is being placed and spotters watching the trucks as they drive along the beach to each work site. The County hasn't published where the trucks will get onto the beach, where equipment will be staged, or which direction the work will move. A fenced section can come up anywhere along the 3.5 miles on a given day.

The cost explains why this is happening at the start of season. The County estimates about $8 million in total. That includes roughly $5 million for the Earth Tech contract, $2.4 million for sand from Stewart Materials, and the cost of engineering, permitting, inspections and shorebird monitoring. Tourist Development taxes pay for it, the bed tax that visitors pay on Collier County lodging. Part of the project may count as Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene work, and the County plans to ask FEMA to reimburse those costs. Gulfshore Business reported the same figures and schedule after the vote.

The calendar between now and New Year's

The County's schedule is a forecast, and weather or contractor logistics can move it. As announced, the weeks ahead look like this:

1. Late October: equipment arrives and the staging area is set up. Sand placement follows.
2. Every week during the project: crews work Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays aren't on the schedule.
3. November 26 to 29: work stops for Thanksgiving, Thursday through Sunday.
4. Before December 31: the contractor is expected to finish.

With a 7 a.m. start and a 7 p.m. finish, the six-day schedule covers most daylight hours from now through December, sunrise walks and sunset walks included. Sundays and the four-day Thanksgiving weekend are the times with no crews on the sand.

Lowdermilk's south end, and a new place for game night

Two more changes sit at the south edge of the neighborhood, and both run on a different timeline than the beach work.

At Lowdermilk Park, the City issued a Notice to Proceed on a new playground on July 22, 2026, with completion expected in April 2027. The coastal-themed design on the park's south end includes a multi-level lighthouse, large climbing elements, a new shelter and shaded swings. A $250,000 donation from the Nommensen Family supports it. According to the City's recreation projects page, the equipment has been ordered and the manufacturer is working through permitting. The playground will open about four months after the sand trucks leave, and around the same time the outfall project's closures to the south are projected to end.

Across Gulf Shore Boulevard North, Gulfshore Business reported that Reset Wellness Lounge has opened at 1400 Gulf Shore Blvd. N., Unit 136, facing Lowdermilk Park. Its services include IV hydration, red-light therapy, sauna, contrast therapy and cold plunge.

At Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort, The Wager is listed to open in October 2026 in Market Square. The resort describes it as a coastal sports pub with pub favorites, shareable plates, draft beer and cocktails, plus four regulation bowling lanes, a games area and an outdoor putting green. Listed hours are 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Reservations go through OpenTable or the resort at 239-944-7600. The weekend hours start at 11 a.m., and the beach crews take Sundays off.

By the first week of 2027, if the County's schedule holds, the sand along Coquina Sands will be new, the Via Miramar, Vedado Way and Horizon Way beach ends will have their finished rebuilds, and Lowdermilk's playground will be about three months from opening. The six accesses to the south are projected to stay closed into spring.

If you'd like to talk through how this season's beach work fits your own plans on Gulf Shore Boulevard North, from a home near one of these beach ends to a walk to Lowdermilk, I'm glad to help. Abby Fraga follows these Coquina Sands projects closely and is always happy to share what she's hearing. Let's Connect.