Posted on March 10, 2020
PINE KNOLL SHORES — In a little more than a week, the ongoing $28.2 million beach nourishment project on Bogue Banks will roll into an even higher gear.
Greg Rudolph, manager of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office, said Thursday the Ellis Island, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co.’s largest dredge boat, is expected to join the project Monday, March 16.
The work so far has been done by the company’s Liberty Island, which has a carrying capacity of about 6,500 cubic yards of sand. The Ellis Island’s capacity is about 15,000 cubic yards.
The addition is not due to slow work. Between Feb. 8, when work began, and Thursday, the Ellis Island had delivered 522,000 cubic yards of material to western Atlantic Beach and more than 90,000 cubic yards to eastern Pine Knoll Shores.
“That’s the equivalent of roughly 51,000 dump trucks worth of sand in less than a month,” Mr. Rudolph said in an email.
The work has to be finished by the end of April, and there’s still most of Pine Knoll Shores to nourish, plus a small portion of Salter Path and a long stretch of western Emerald Isle. As of Thursday, there was still about 1.5 cubic yards of sand to go.
“The Ellis Island (will) accompany the Liberty Island for a week before the Liberty Island is relieved from the project,” Mr. Rudolph said. “The Ellis Island will remain onsite for the remainder of the project and is the largest hopper dredge in the United States.
“The week (beginning) March 16 is going to be very active in the water and on the beach, with both dredges scheduled to pump off the same (pipe) line.”
He urged the public to “remember the active area of pumping and/nourishment is a construction zone and respect all warning signs and flagging.”
Pine Knoll Shores’ beaches are to receive a total of 990,000 cubic yards of sand.
Salter Path, at the state-owned county beach access, will receive 145,000 cubic yards, and Emerald Isle, roughly from the Land’s End clubhouse to just east of the Western Ocean Regional Access, is to get 345,000 cubic yards, for a project total of about 2 million cubic yards along 9.5 miles of beach.
Great Lakes works 24 hours a day, seven days a week when not stopped for resupply or bad weather.
Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email Brad@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.
Source: carolinacoastonline.com
