CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. --
The Beach Club access road, to San Onofre Beach, will be closed for approximately nine months beginning July 8 to construct Green Beach operations access improvements to the Northern Mobility Corridor.
Patrons will be required to use the San Onofre State Park access road during the closure.
The construction will replace the existing timber trestles with a more permanent concrete structure that will support amphibious operations and maneuvers off Green Beach by providing a wider portal and allow for more practical and safer access to Camp Pendleton's Northern training areas from the beach.
“The ability to conduct amphibious landing, training, and appropriate tactical employment has been a goal of the installation for more than 40 years,” said John Carretti, the Range and Training Area Management branch head here.
The coastal rail line, which predates Camp Pendleton, and the I-5, which was constructed after the base was established, have presented challenges to the ability to maneuver tactical equipment and formations unfettered off the beaches.
“An identified shortfall was formally established with the Land and Training Area Requirements Study in 1989,” said Carretti. “It was reinforced by a follow-on Operations access initiative in the 90’s that identified the need for additional operations access off Pendleton beaches to support amphibious maneuvers.”
“In the intervening years, Headquarters Marine Corps has approved and awarded two of those projects,” said Carretti. “Green Beach Operations access is the first and will support amphibious operations maneuvers off the 1200 meter long beach.”
An additional operations access project to improve maneuver capabilities off Red Beach is also awarded and will commence in the coming Months, said Carretti.
“In the past three years, amphibious landings and maneuver off the beach recommenced at Green Beach and has been used on a more frequent basis,” said Carretti. “The beach was recently used in support of amphibious landings and movements for exercise Dawn Blitz, which was an extremely important amphibious exercise for I Marine Expeditionary Force, as well as international forces. The exercise re-emphasized amphibious training now and into the future.”
“The future use of Green Beach as an amphibious landing site for the I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Expeditionary Units, and Amphibious Raids training has been identified for some time,” said Carretti. “This will be more fully enabled once operations access improvements are complete and will allow for better operational options and tactical movement into the Sierra Training Area and the Northern Mobility Corridor, in general.”