Posted on March 5, 2018
By Lee Hinnant, stateportpilot.com
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will again seek bids to remove about a million cubic yards of beach-quality sand from parts of the Wilmington Harbor shipping channel.
The corps is scheduled to formally seek bids on Friday. After 30 days, proposals will be opened and analyzed. Originally scheduled to occur in the winter of 2016-17, the once-every-two-years project was delayed because of funding shortfalls. In November 2017, the corps put the project out to bid, but no one responded.
The work is done to maintain safe navigation and a channel depth of 44 feet, but it is considered critical to neighboring beach communities because it puts sand onto the strand. Bald Head Island receives sand from the first two rounds; then sand goes to Caswell Beach and part of Oak Island.
The last time Oak Island and Caswell Beach received sand was 2008.
If the corps receives an acceptable bid, work would start by May 1 and continue through the summer. Oak Island has agreed to contribute up to $3-million to receive an additional 250,000 to 300,000 cubic yards of sand. This would place sand roughly 15 blocks farther to the east than would otherwise occur, according to the corps illustration.
According to a February 20-21 hydrograph, shoaling in parts of the Smith Island reach of the channel has reduced its depth to less than 22 feet.
Engineer Johnny Martin of Moffatt & Nichol said he attempted to piggyback Oak Island’s $8-million sea turtle habitat restoration grant onto the harbor work, but was unable to work through issues corps officials had with funding sources.
Martin said if the corps receives acceptable bids and moves on the Wilmington Harbor project, his firm would work toward making the sea turtle sand project happen in the fall of this year. If the Wilmington Harbor project doesn’t happen this summer, Martin said he would continue to work on merging the turtle habitat work with the harbor work in the fall or winter. The Moffatt company is also working on a long-term master plan for sand for Oak Island.
Martin said working during the summer could mean that some sea turtle nests would have to be relocated if they are laid before sand placement. He said that operation of the cutterhead dredge and pipeline was not expected to pose a direct threat to sea turtles, since they can easily move away from a pipe on the sea floor. Hopper dredges, which would not be used for this job, are more dangerous to the reptiles since they pick up large scoopfuls of sand at a time.
“We’re excited about the possibility of getting sand on the beach,” said Oak Island Mayor Cin Brochure. “We’ll do everything in our power to make sure that the sea turtles are protected.”
Caswell Beach officials, in a prepared statement, said the dredge contract, if approved, would include specific measures to protect sea turtles.
The beach would remain open, except for the immediate area of construction, they said. The slurry pipe carrying sand and water from the harbor would be fitted with crosswalks to allow access to the water.
“Although the project will be inconvenient for all of us for a few months, the benefits to our town and our beautiful beach are immense,” they said. “This will be the third federally funded beach renourishment project for Caswell Beach. Our beautiful beach is a reflection of the extraordinary efforts of the (corps) to return shoaled sand to the beach from which it came.”
Source: stateportpilot.com
