Posted on April 5, 2018
By Teresa Stepzinski, jacksonville.com
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says a contractor recently finished a maintenance dredging and a portion, but not all, of a related beach nourishment project straddling the Florida/Georgia state line north of Jacksonville.
Crews finished dredging the entrance channel and portions of the inner channel at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in southern Camden County in Southeast Georgia on Saturday. As part of the project, beach compatible sand was placed across the state line in the northern part of Fernandina Beach in Nassau County, according to the Corps of Engineers.
The beach placement began near New York Avenue and ended near Jasmine Street in Fernandina Beach.
Such hopper dredging is allowed only during certain times of the year because of environmental regulations protecting sea turtles, which migrate and come ashore to nest. Because that environmental window closed, the corps said its contractor was unable to finish full sand placement, which is intended to go almost as far south as Sadler Road.
The corps said the contractor, Dutra Group, will return Nov. 1 to complete the remainder of the beach placement portion of the project.
An estimated 740,000 cubic yards of sand will be placed at Fernandina Beach.
Dutra Group will disperse about 1,020,000 cubic yards of non-beach compatible material between the approved nearshore disposal area and an offshore disposal site, according to the corps.
The project is sponsored by Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay and the City of Fernandina Beach. It’s deemed critical to commercial cargo entering and leaving the port, as well as to the Navy base, which shares the entrance channel.
The city of Fernandina Beach, Nassau County, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection contributed $1.6 million to the project, which allows sand placement in critical areas on the beach.
Project updates will be available at www.saj.usace.army.mil and the corps social media pages — facebook.com/JacksonvilleDistrict and twitter.com/JaxStrong.
Source: jacksonville.com
