Shark River Project Inaugurated

New Jersey State, County and local officials gathered last Friday, October 9th, at the Shark River Hills Marina to outline the journey and acknowledge the efforts that led to the award of a contract to dredge 102,000 cubic yards of sediment from the navigable channels of the Shark River.

“Efforts to dredge the Shark River have been a long time in the making and I am ecstatic that, with the help of our partners, we are bringing it to fruition,” Monmouth County Freeholder Thomas A. Arnone said.

A coalition of State, County and local leaders have effectively advocated for the project and also committed funding toward the dredging that is expected to begin before the end of 2015.

“After over two decades, there has finally been a bid awarded to dredge Shark River,” said Sen. Jennifer Beck. “While the State is investing more than $5 million, this project would not have moved forwarded without the assistance of Monmouth County, which is accepting the dredged material at its landfill and helping to the fund the trucking costs.”

Sen. Beck, NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) Commissioner Bob Martin and Nicole Minutoli, Director of Multimodal Services for New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJ DOT) represented the interests of the State at the event.

Minutoli made the project official when she announced that Mobile Dredging and Pumping Co., Chester, PA, was awarded the $7.6 million contract to restore the State channels to allow safe passage for recreational and commercial traffic.

NJDOT identified viable solutions that included using innovative technologies to remove approximately 102,000 cubic yards of sediment comprised of sand and silt. The sediment will be hydraulically dredged and piped via a secure welded pipeline to the selected dewatering locations.

Two dewatering sites will be utilized – a portion of the Belmar Marina parking lot in Belmar and Shark River Island in Neptune Township. The dewatered material will then be trucked to the Monmouth County Reclamation Center for beneficial use.

The financial commitments breakdown as follows: Monmouth County $1.1 million; Neptune City $100,000; Neptune Township $450,000; Wall Township $315,000; Belmar amount pending approval of town council.