Vortex Marine Wins Smith Island Maintenance Dredging

Vortex Marine Construction was recently awarded a maintenance dredging contract for the Federal navigation channel on Smith Island in Somerset County, Maryland, reports the FedBizOpps.

The $3.2 million project includes dredging of the Twitch Cove and Big Thorofare channels to their authorized depth of 7 feet (MLLW), plus two feet of allowable overdepth, and a width of 60 feet.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, approximately 80,000 cubic yards of material consisting primarily of mud, silt, sand, shell, gravel, will be hydraulically dredged from the area.

The majority of the dredged material will be beneficially used to restore dune and wetland habitat on Swan Island, which is part of the Martin National Wildlife Refuge at Smith Island.

A portion of the dredged material will also be used to reinforce the south jetty, located 0.85 miles west of Ewell.