Breaking down Virginia Beach’s ongoing battle to dig out the Rudee Inlet channel

VIRGINIA BEACH — Capt. Skip Feller has come to expect dangerously shallow water in Rudee Inlet that sometimes forces him to cancel trips out to sea. As sand naturally moves north along the Virginia Beach coastline, it builds up inside the channel to the Atlantic Ocean, causing hazardous conditions for mariners.

But that all started to change last week.

A $4.8 million dredging project that began earlier this month is unclogging the inlet. Feller, who skippers Rudee Tours dolphin-watching trips, has already noticed a difference.

“It’s been night and day,” Feller said. “Last year, we had to rearrange schedules. There were days that we could not go out at low tide.”

The middle of the inlet has been as low as 4 feet deep; now there’s as much as 17 feet of breathing room for boat captains to maneuver through it without having to worry about running aground.

Norfolk Dredging Co. of Chesapeake is using the largest boat in its fleet — a 300-foot-long dredge named the Charleston — to remove built-up sand in and around the channel.

It works like this: A rotating corkscrew-like apparatus loosens the sand on the ocean floor, while pumps suck up the material and deposit it onto the beach.

While the process is mostly mechanical, a crew is needed to support the effort.

“There are a lot of folks involved,” said Jody Bowen, site manager for Norfolk Dredging Co.

About 50 people, split between three shifts, work 24 hours a day.

On the boat, the superintendent, captain, mates, deckhands, oilers, quality control personnel and others keep the operation running smoothly.

On shore, bulldozer operators spread the dredged material, and surveyors measure the beach’s width.

The material is being discharged through 2,000 feet of piping on the beach in the resort area between 5th and 11th streets and along Croatan Beach, south of the inlet.

Rudee Inlet is used by charter sportfishing boats, the Virginia Aquarium’s research vessels, recreational boaters, adventure tour companies and the U.S. Navy for training operations.

It also serves as a harbor for vessels to take refuge during coastal storm events.

It’s been six years since a large-scale dredging project was conducted inside the inlet, and Virginia Beach has waited more than two years for this one to get under way. The first round of pricing for it came into too high and it had to be rebid, according to Daniel Adams, the city’s coastal program manager.

Virginia Beach is paying $4.5 million, which is more than the usual cost-sharing arrangement because federal funds were limited, according to Michael Anderson of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is managing the project.

Throughout the year, the city and the corps use smaller dredge boats to keep the inlet navigable. Those boats won’t be needed as frequently after this project, Adams said.

The Charleston is also clearing out an area beyond the rock jetties, where migrating sand will be captured.

“They take a full bite,” said Adams. “It’s going to help restore safe navigation depth to Rudee Inlet.”

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