Posted on November 14, 2016
By Gareth McGrath, StarNews Online
Crews this winter will conduct dredging of a small section of the Intracoastal Waterway across from Middle Sound, with New Hanover County picking up the tab. The work will involve cleaning sand out of the channel in and around the mouth of Mason Creek.
The county is on the hook for the dredging work as part of the agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers that allowed the relocation of Mason Inlet in 2002. As part of the inlet relocation, the creek — which had shoaled up — was dredged to help keep Mason Inlet from again beginning its march south and threatening property at the northern end of Wrightsville Beach. But one stipulation was that any shoaling in the Intracoastal around the mouth of the creek would be the county’s responsibility.
What: Dredging of Intracoastal Waterway and mouth of Mason Creek.
Why: Sand has shoaled the crossing in parts of the waterway around the mouth of the creek.
How much: The low bid from Marcol Dredging was $523,050. County room-occupancy funds will be used and then reimbursed via money from the N.C. Shallow Draft Inlet Fund and from a special tax on property owners who live on the northern end of Wrightsville Beach and Figure Eight Island.
When: This winter, with work wrapping up before April.
Source: StarNews Online
