Dredging Project Announced in New Jersey

New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials have announced a project to dredge three State navigation channels; one in Absecon Inlet in Atlantic County, one in Hereford Inlet in Cape May County and one in Cape May Harbor.

The work is part of a $1.6 million dollar project to dredge the state channels that were impacted by Winter Storm Jonas in January 2016.

The project will include the following channels: Saint George’s Thorofare, Beach Creek Channel and Spicers Creek Channel. All three channels had been restored to navigable depths by NJDOT following Superstorm Sandy, but had been severely re-shoaled by Winter Storm Jonas.

NJDOT’s contractor, Wickberg Marine Contracting, Inc, has already begun work mechanically dredging sand from the mouth of Saint George’s Channel in Brigantine, reported NJDOT. The sand is being trucked a short distance away to replenish eroded sections of the Inlet Beach.

Work on the Beach Creek channel in North Wildwood will start in mid-October and continue through early November. Sand will be hydraulically dredged during ebb tide only and discharged directly into the inlet, where it is expected to be carried by the tide to replenish sand islands in Hereford Inlet.

The Spicers Creek channel dredging in Cape May Harbor is expected to start in November and continue through the end of the year. Silt will be dredged hydraulically and pumped to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ confined disposal facility adjacent to the Cape May Canal.

“Mariners should be advised that State Aids to Navigation (ATON) will be removed from all three channels as necessary for the duration of the project. All mariners, including those utilizing human powered craft, should be especially alert to project pipeline routes and crossings,” said NJDOT.

Following Superstorm Sandy, NJDOT in March 2014 announced a comprehensive State Channel Dredging and Emergency Response Program to ensure and maintain safe navigation statewide, and to continue to be able to respond adequately to waterway impacts from named storms.