Posted on September 4, 2018
Bids for dredging at the state Port of Morehead City came in under the federal government’s estimate, and work should begin early next year, Carteret County Shore Protection Office Manager Greg Rudolph said Wednesday.
According to Mr. Rudolph, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened two bids earlier this week, one from Great Lakes Dredge and Dock and one from Mason Construction.
Great Lakes’ bid was $19.5 million and Mason’s was $20.1 million, so both were at least $3 million under the federal agency’s estimate of $23.1 million.
The dredging, Mr. Rudolph said, is to remove 750,000 cubic yards of material from what is known as “Range A” – the approach to the port south, or seaward, of Beaufort Inlet, and 50,000 cubic yards of material from the “cutoff,” which is essentially the inlet itself.
The dredge spoils are to be placed on the normal offshore ocean disposal site, which totals about 8 square nautical miles and is in water that averages about 39 feet in depth.
“We’re very happy with the bids,” Mr. Rudolph said. “I give a lot of credit to the corps for going with this regional dredging plan,” which lumps bids and contracts for the Morehead City port with larger and busier ports in Brunswick, Wilmington and Savanah, Ga.
It’s the second year the ACE has used the regional plan, Mr. Rudolph said, “and it gives them a lot of flexibility. In addition, by lumping us with the other ports, it increases the chances of getting bids, and lowers the costs” of the contracts.
Mr. Rudolph said he’s not yet sure of the exact schedule, or of how many dredges Great Lakes plans to use, but “akin to last year I would suspect Great Lakes would work south to north and be in Morehead during the traditional (Tuesday,) Jan. 1 to (Sunday,) March 31, 2019, ‘no turtles in the water’” timeframe.
That so-called window seeks to assure that dredging won’t be halted because of regulations regarding endangered and threatened sea turtles. Shutdowns because of turtle “takes” not only increase the time it takes to do the work, but also increase costs because of downtime.
Mr. Rudolph said Range A and the cutoff generally get dredged every year in order to ensure that ships headed to the port can safely and efficiently gain entry.
“Range B,” which is just north (landward) of Beaufort Inlet, is generally dredged every other year, so that will likely take place in fiscal year 2019-20.
That project, and/or the dredging of Range A and the cutoff that year, are expected to supply, for the first time ever, sand for nourishment of beaches in western Atlantic Beach and all of Pine Knoll Shores.
Previously, that sand has been deposited only on the beaches of Fort Macon State Park and eastern Atlantic Beach, including the Circle district, at no cost to the town because it’s the least-cost alternative to the ACE.
Mr. Rudolph and the Carteret County Beach Commission for several years have been working to get ACE officials to OK a so-called “Delta” project, however, which allows that sand to be deposited, at the towns’ expense, farther west on Bogue Banks.
Mr. Rudolph and the commission earlier this year tried to get the ACE to do a Delta project this winter and spring – fiscal year 2018-19 – which could have allowed western Atlantic Beach and Pine Knoll Shores to receive beach sand in the same general timeframe that eastern Emerald Isle, Indian Beach and Salter Path might get sand.
The latter $16.8 million project also could be moved to 2019-20 if bids – due to be released to private contractors in the next few weeks – come in too high for 2018-19.
At any rate, Mr. Rudolph said, it’s good to know the regional plan is working as hoped, and two sections of the port harbor complex should be dredged this coming winter.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rudolph said, the Currituck, the ACE’s own small-scale hopper dredge, completed its work in Bulkhead Channel near the port Monday and the after-dredge survey has already been posted.
“It looks clean,” he said, “especially near … marker 3, where a shoal had crossed the channel.”
Tuesday, the Currituck mobilized for maintenance dredging in the channel that leads to the U.S. Coast Guard station at the western end of Emerald Isle and in Bogue Inlet.
“This is particularly interesting because it has been a very long while since the Currituck has been at Bogue Inlet – at least 10 to 15 years – and the Murden, the ACE’s other hopper dredge, has never been here.”
The ACE has been using sidecast dredges, the Merritt in recent years and the Fry before that, in Bogue Inlet, Mr. Rudolph said.
Hopper dredges suck up material and then pipe it ashore in a more liquid form – that’s what has been done in the many projects to nourish Atlantic Beach, with a pipeline running down the strand.
A sidecast dredge, by contrast, does not store the spoils, but instead pumps the dredged material directly overboard through an elevated discharge boom.
The lack of additional weight from carrying the spoils long distances makes it easier for sidecast dredges to work in shallow areas, such as much of Bogue Inlet.
In this case, Mr. Rudolph said, it appears that the hopper dredge Currituck is depositing the dredge spoils in the ocean offshore from Wyndtree Drive in Emerald Isle.
The Bogue Inlet work, Mr. Rudolph said, should be finished by Wednesday. The federal government is paying for the work in the Coast Guard station channel, which is expected to cost about $40,000.
The Bogue Inlet work is expected to cost the county about $100,000, which will come from $298,000 in local and state money already in the bank.
The state money comes from its shallow-draft inlet dredging fund, which gets its revenue from boat gas taxes and vessel title purchases and transfers. The money is used to match local dollars.
Emerald Isle in recent years has taken the lead in collecting the local money. The town, by reason of its proximity to the inlet, contributes the largest share, but funds also have come from Onslow and Carteret counties and the towns of Swansboro, Cape Carteret and Cedar Point.
Source: Carteret County News-Times
