Posted on May 27, 2024
MURRELLS INLET, S.C. (WPDE) — A dredging project that pumped nearly 600,000 cubic yards of sand across Murrells Inlet and Garden City Beach is now complete.
It’s a task that took the Army Corps of Engineers just a few months to finish.
If you’re walking on Garden City Beach and decide to head southeast, the Atlantic Ocean will of course be on your left. To your right, a channel of water will lead you back into the Murrells Inlet creek.
A dredging project that pumped nearly 600,000 cubic yards of sand across Murrells Inlet and Garden City Beach is now complete. (Credit: Jenna Herazo/WPDE)
The $6.5 million federally backed project took around 50,000 dump trucks worth of sand and spread it about two miles- starting in Garden City Beach and ending at Huntington Beach State Park.
The area where the serene creek mixes with the rough ocean is a vital one, especially for boaters.
A dredging project that pumped nearly 600,000 cubic yards of sand across Murrells Inlet and Garden City Beach is now complete. (Credit: Jenna Herazo/WPDE)
Nathan Wilkes is the Public Affairs Specialist for the Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District.
He said the Corps recently completed the multi-million dollar dredging project, and now, boaters should have an easier time navigating in and around Murrells Inlet.
A dredging project that pumped nearly 600,000 cubic yards of sand across Murrells Inlet and Garden City Beach is now complete. (Credit: USACE)
“There are some parts of the entrance channel to the inlet that were, I mean, especially at low tide, or like. three or four feet deep. The last thing that we want is for boaters to, you know, get beached, so to speak, on some of that sand that occurred during shoaling. So, you know, maintaining that, you know, federal navigation channel just allows for a deeper channel, so boats don’t get stuck out there,” Wilkes said.
The navigation project funded by President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law took sand out of the channel and pumped it onto the beach.
“All that material is spread about the two-mile length there on the Garden City Beach and on the Huntington Beach State Park side,” Wilkes said.
He said before the dredging, the channel was only a few feet deep.
A dredging project that pumped nearly 600,000 cubic yards of sand across Murrells Inlet and Garden City Beach is now complete. (Credit: Jenna Herazo/WPDE)
“We concluded that maintenance dredging project in Murrells Inlet. And basically, we’re taking the sand that accumulated due to shoaling out of the inlet, and we’re able to beneficially use that material, not only on the beach in Garden City but in Huntington Beach State Park,” Wilkes said
Hundreds of thousands of sand later, and now the channel is about ten feet deep and is now compliant with federally authorized depth regulations.
“I like to think about it, like a giant underwater vacuum in a way. There are several different types, but essentially it’s a machine that’s floated into a channel, and it uses several different machines to kind of suck the sand and silt and any other types of things that may have accumulated in that channel over time due to wave action, storm energy, and then we’re able to beneficially use that material, shoot it through a pump and place it on the beach,” Wilkes said.
Some of the sand taken out of the channel was used to build an artificial beach at Huntington Beach State Park for shorebirds to nest on. (Credit: Jenna Herazo/WPDE)
He said not only do people who use the channel for water recreation activities benefit from this project, but animals that use the beach also benefit as well.
Wilkes said some of the sand taken out of the channel was used to build an artificial beach at Huntington Beach State Park for shorebirds to nest on.
