Posted on February 26, 2020
SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. Massey’s Ditch was last dredged in 2002. Mariners say the waterway had become unsafe and that boats often ran aground, especially at low tide. The 100 foot wide channel is on schedule to be dredged by the end of this week.
“It had a lot of very shallow areas,” says J.F. Brennan Project Manager David Horne. “It was restricting boat traffic. It was hindering the recreational traffic in the summertime in the area. We’ve managed to dredge the whole channel down from a depth of 6 and a half feet to 7 and a half feet.”
“There were some places where it was almost impassible, but it’s pretty nice now,” says Chris Virginski, who takes his boat through Massey’s Ditch almost everyday to clam.
While Virginski is thankful for a smoother ride, he says the clamming industry served better in shallower waters.
“We work in shallow waters so they’re taking the shallow water,” says Virginski. “Plus the dredge while they’re running it, all the vibrations and everything, that makes the clams go down.”
J.F. Brennan Company, Inc. began dredging in the turning basin near Middle Island on January 8th. Crews have worked 24/7 to dredge shoaled areas in Massey’s Ditch and its alternative route Baker’s Channel.
It was estimated that 100,000 cubic yards of sand needed to be dredged, but Horne says when crews ran their survey, they found an additional 46,000 cubic yards.
“Due to the currents and the high tides we’ve had, it’s slowed operations down a little bit, plus the extra material lengthened the project schedule, but we’ll still be done before the project deadline,” Horne says.
As a result of the project the Delaware Seashore State Park Beach has gotten a lot bigger. That’s because all of the sand that was dredged has been pumped onto it to help stabilize the beach and protect nearby infrastructure.
DNREC previously said that the project would cost $3.6 million. The agency told WRDE on Monday that the contract called for a base bid to dredge 100,000 cubic yards of sand and that DNREC structures all beach nourishment contracts this way because changeable dredge volumes are frequently encountered.
“The costs were not higher than anticipated, nor were they higher than the project budget,” a DNREC spokesperson said in a statement to WRDE.
Horne expects dredging to wrap up this week. He says J.F. Brennan will then demobilize over the course of two weeks.
DNREC previously told WRDE that it urged mariners to avoid dredging operations. Massey’s Ditch and Bakers Channel never closed during the project as all of the pipes were underwater.
Source: wrde.com
