Posted on January 26, 2021
ATLANTIC BEACH — Beach nourishment ended in Fort Macon State Park and moved into eastern Atlantic Beach this week, with sand coming from the harbor at the N.C. Port of Morehead City.
Greg Rudolph, manager of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office, which oversees dredging and nourishment projects, said in an email Monday the J.S. Chatry, the dredge vessel owned by Weeks Marine of New Jersey, went into port Friday and stayed until Monday for a break during expected rough seas and strong winds.
Work resumed by mid-day Monday and has continued since then, Mr. Rudolph said Thursday.
During the down time, “field crews broke down the land pipe and ‘dressed’ the completed section of the beach, which basically extends from east to west across the Ft. Macon Bath House access area,” he continued.
“Weeks Marine will create sand ramps over the pipe every several hundred feet and at major access points to enable the public to access the water in the completed sections of nourishment,” Mr. Rudolph said in the email Monday.
The $18 million, federally funded port dredging and beach nourishment project started with dredging Dec. 29, then transitioned to concurrent nourishment Jan. 6.
The dredged sand is pumped through a submerged pipeline that lands west of the terminal groin at Fort Macon State Park, where the land-based pipe begins, Mr. Rudolph said. The project will eventually end at The Circle development district in Atlantic Beach. Western Atlantic Beach was nourished last year as part of phase two of the Bogue Bank post-Hurricane Florence project.
Under a longstanding agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which funds dredging to keep the port accessible to large vessels, Atlantic Beach gets the port sand free because it’s the closest place to deposit the dredged material.
The plan is to remove 1.14 million cubic yards of shoal material from port channels and deposit it along about 4.3 miles of the beach.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rudolph said Thursday, “mobilization is in full swing” for the Emerald Isle beach nourishment due to start Friday, Feb. 12, with dredging and pumping by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. of Illinois.
“Equipment is being delivered to the vehicular beach access at the dog-leg on Ocean Drive in Emerald Isle, and Great Lakes set the first submerged pipeline Tuesday,” he said.
The effort will spread more than 2 million cubic yards of sand dredged from off Atlantic Beach along 9.4 linear miles of beach in Emerald Isle. Of the total, 166,350 cubic yards will be deposited in the extreme western strand off Coast Guard Road, 708,750 cubic yards to the east of that, 537,750 cubic yards in the center of town and 600,000 cubic yards in the extreme east.
Both projects must be complete by Friday, April 30 before sea turtles generally begin showing up in area waters.
Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email Brad@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.
Source: carolinacoastonline
