Posted on August 30, 2018
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to do some touch-up dredging in Bogue Inlet in the next few weeks.
Carteret County Shore Protection Office Manager Greg Rudolph said Thursday that the ACE dredge Currituck left Oregon Inlet Monday, where it was doing maintenance dredging work, to come to the county to dredge Bulkhead Channel. It’s onsite and working, he said.
In addition, Mr. Rudolph said, the vessel is scheduled to do some work in the channel that leads to the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Emerald Isle. The USCG requested that work and will pay for it.
Since the Currituck was already scheduled to be here, Mr. Rudolph said, he and Emerald Isle officials thought it would be a good time to do some touch-up dredging in Bogue Inlet, and the ACE agreed.
The confluence of events means the county and the towns that pitch in money for dredging the inlet, along with the state, won’t have to pay transportation costs for the dredge boat all the way from Oregon Inlet – it costs $22,000 a day for the vessel, whether it’s dredging or just sailing here to start work – so the cost to get it to Bogue Inlet from Bulkhead Channel in Morehead City/Beaufort will be far less than that.
The money, Mr. Rudolph said, will come out of $300,000, including a two-thirds state match, that the county and area local governments, such as Swansboro, Emerald Isle, Cape Carteret and Cedar Point, regularly chip in to keep Bogue Inlet safely passable.
The inlet is the crucial passageway in the western end of the county for recreational and a few commercial fishing boats to get from the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to the ocean.
“We haven’t touched the $300,000, and this won’t cost very much,” Mr. Rudolph said. “It’s just a good opportunity to get some maintenance dredging done.”
Generally speaking, Mr. Rudolph said, the inlet is in good shape.
“I’m really surprised how good it is, how good it’s looked all year, since there hasn’t been any dredging in quite a while,” he said.
Emerald Isle Town Manager Frank Rush, who has taken the lead in soliciting the local matches for state dredging money – funded by a boat gas tax and vessel license sales – agreed with Mr. Rudolph.
“There are really just a couple of ‘pinch points,’” he said. “But this should ensure a safe and efficient channel for the fall fishing season. We’re hoping it will be finished by early September.”
Bulkhead Channel runs from outside the state port at Morehead City all the way to the new Beaufort high-rise bridge.
For years, it’s been particularly troublesome as boaters come from the south toward Radio Island where it runs between Pivers Island and the old Beaufort drawbridge, and between Pivers Island and Carrot Island, according to Mr. Rudolph.
A combination of town and state money will fund the dredging, according to a release from the town of Beaufort. Mr. Rudolph said earlier this year the town had $200,000 for the work, if needed.
According to a press release from the town last week, ACE program manager Jim Medlock asked for “the patience of the mariners and vessels transiting through the area as dredging is underway.”
It’s expected to be finished by the end of the month.
“The Town of Beaufort is grateful to USACE Wilmington District Commander COL Robert Clark and Project Managers Jim Medlock and Brennan Dooley for their tremendous partnership in this effort,” Mayor Rett Newton said in the release.
“If not dredged, the shoaling would have a significant impact on local maritime commerce, and vessels desiring to visit Beaufort en route to destinations along the East Coast and globally.”
Mr. Rudolph said the Bulkhead Channel work is expected to cost $150,000 to $200,000, including the usual two-thirds state match.
The work is being done as an emergency project because of its importance, Mr. Rudolph said. It does not include Morgan Creek, which the county has been trying to get dredged for more than a year.
According to Mr. Rudolph, the ACE “lost” the environmental authorization to dredge Morgan Creek and Bulkhead Channel, so while the channel can be done as an “emergency,” Morgan Creek has to wait while the agency prepares a new environmental assessment.
“The EA should be completed in a month or two, which will pave the way for the county and others to provide the state cost-sharing dollars that collectively will be passed along to the corps through a MOA (memorandum of agreement), enabling the corps to dredge Morgan Creek,” he said.
“Hopefully, it will be dredged by the end of the calendar year, for the first time since 1999.”
Morgan Creek is primarily used by boats that need access to Jimmy Gillikin’s marine railway/boat repair business and his Morgan Creek Seafood business, and Mr. Gillikin has said he will help pay for the work.
The project seemed to be on track late last year before the environmental permit issue arose.
At that time, Mr. Gillikin said the condition of the creek was badly damaging his businesses, because big boats that come to his marine railway and repair business were having to come in at “tip-top high tide,” if they came in at all.
Similarly, commercial fishing vessels loaded with shrimp or flounder must wait for the highest tide, and he said he’d lost money from that business, too.
Mr. Rudolph, in an email, provided the following snapshot of other planned dredging projects in the county.
– Homer’s Point Channel: The bid opening was Aug. 13, and the contract was awarded for $66,000, with 1,000 cubic yards of material to be disposed upland at the Old Salter Path Campground property. The estimated start date is Thursday, Sept. 4, with completion expected by Friday, Sept. 28.
– East Taylor’s Creek: Progressing with engineering design for a realigned and deeper channel. Sediment sampling has concluded the dredged material should be all sand and there is no submerged aquatic vegetation.
The county is looking to secure an upland disposal site on adjacent Carrot Island, and hopes to submit a major Coastal Area Management Act development permit application this fall. If that happens and all goes well, permits should be in hand by winter of 2019, and dredging could begin in late winter or early spring.
The Taylor’s Creek project is intended to make East Taylor’s Creek more or less match West Taylor’s Creek, which runs along downtown Beaufort.
– Wainwright Slough: Progressing with engineering design for channel corridor. Sediment sampling shows all sand, but there’s a lot of submerged aquatic vegetation, which is habitat for juveniles of many marine species.
This will like constrain the dredging corridor. The county hopes to submit CAMA permit applications and environmental documentation in the fall, with work to begin whenever possible.
– Atlantic Harbor: It’s in the final stages of engineering design. Sediment samples show sand and mud.
Again, the county hopes to submit permit applications in and environmental documentation in the fall, with dredging to begin in late winter or early spring.
– Deer Creek and Old Ferry Channel in Cape Carteret: This project is in a preliminary design phase, and the county expects to submit a proposal for engineering and environmental services soon.
The county is hoping for or has already received grant funds from the state to help pay for all of these projects.
Source: CarolinaCoastOnline
