Posted on September 8, 2020
JUPITER — Brace for a bit of traffic on the Intracoastal Waterway later this year.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to dredge the Intracoastal immediately west, north and south of the Jupiter Inlet, corps spokesman David Ruderman said.
The $2.8 million project, which also includes dredging near the St. Lucie Inlet, is regularly scheduled maintenance to ensure the boating channel is 10 feet deep below the mean low-water mark, Ruderman said. The spokesman did not have an exact start date, but noted that crews cannot place the dredged sediment on Jupiter’s beachfront until Nov. 1 — after sea turtle nesting season concludes.
“Maintenance of safe navigation in federal waters has historically been a key Corps mission, and this project is one of many, many such projects around Florida and across the country,” Ruderman said in an email.
In all, Ruderman said the corps expects contractors from Louisiana-based Coastal Dredging Inc. to extract about 95,000 cubic yards of sediment from the Intracoastal around Jupiter.
For context: The Jupiter Inlet District historically dredges about 60,000 cubic yards of sediment from its sand trap.
The inlet district also plans to dredge this fall after officials realized their federal dredging permit had long since expired. The district, which typically dredges in the late winter or early spring, also attributed the fall dredge to a lack of sediment and potential conflicts with last winter’s beach restoration efforts.
Source: palmbeachpost
