The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ contractor Weeks Marine Inc., of Cranford, N.J. has begun before-dredging surveys of the Moriches Inlet and bay.
The first of three tug-boat shipments of submergible pipe arrived on August 25, 2018. Two more shipments of equipment are scheduled to arrive within the next couple of weeks, which all together will comprise the needed five-mile pipeline, said USACE.
The $10 million emergency maintenance dredging project will remove hazardous shoals, a shallow formation of sand that is a navigation or grounding hazard to U.S. Coast Guard and recreational vessels.
“A series of Nor’easters earlier this year created a safety issue, making it difficult for U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue team vessels to respond to lifesaving missions within Moriches Bay or the Atlantic Ocean in this portion of the region ,” said USACE.
The work will involve dredging and removing approximately 158,000 cubic yards of sand, to be beneficially reused five miles west of Moriches Inlet to not waste the sand and to provide additional coastal storm risk reduction measures for the Smith Point County Park Pavilion and the barrier island.
The maintenance dredging will restore Moriches Inlet to its federally authorized depth of 10 feet deep and 200 feet wide, and estimated to be completed in mid-October 2018.