New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials yesterday announced the start of an emergency maintenance dredging project at the entrance of Double Creek Channel, the State’s primary ocean-going entrance into Barnegat Bay.
Following the nor’easter in late September, the condition of Double Creek State Channel has degraded to a point where the shoal is a navigational hazard, and the safety of the boating public is a concern.
Emergency dredging of the Double Creek State Channel is necessary to return the waterway to a safe condition, while beneficially using the sand, maintaining the sediment in the system and protecting the resource from further degradation, NJDOT said.
H&L Construction will begin setting dredge pipes today and the hydraulic dredging operations are set to start tomorrow. The approximately $1 million project will restore the channel to a safe navigable depth by removing up to 40,000 cubic yards of sand shoaled in the channel.
According to NJDOT, this work will continue 24 hours a day, seven days a week until project completion, which is expected by early November.