Posted on October 19, 2020
Boaters should be especially cautious in the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon near the St. Lucie Inlet this week because of a federal dredging project.
Areas to be dredged in what’s known as “The Crossroads” at the confluence of the river, the lagoon, the inlet and Manatee Pocket include:
- The mouth of the river north of Sandsprit Park
- The lagoon along the eastern side of Sewall’s Point
- Both sides of the lagoon south of the inlet.
Boaters should be on the lookout for marked floating pipelines during the dredging starting as early as Monday, Oct. 19.
The work is expected to take 30 to 40 days.
The Army Corps of Engineers project will remove about 48,000 cubic yards of material from shoals — about 6½ times the volume of the Goodyear blimp — and place it in an impoundment off the tip of Sailfish Point.
The project will not be affected by Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie River, which the Corps started Wednesday, spokesperson David Ruderman said Friday.
The Corps also will remove about 95,000 cubic yards of material, about twice the volume of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, from the lagoon near the Jupiter Inlet in Palm Beach County and place it on beaches south of the inlet.
The work is expected to be completed at the end of February.
The project is part of a nearly $2.8 million contract awarded to Coastal Dredging Co. of Hammond, Louisiana, in July.
Source: tcpalm
