Posted on June 16, 2016
By Jessica A. York, Santa Cruz Sentinel
Pieces of the “Twin Lakes” dredge will start arriving at the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor atop 18 or more big rigs traveling from Louisiana this week,
Local harbor traffic and parking are expected to be impacted intermittently for the next several weeks as the large pieces of the custom-built sand-digging equipment are reassembled by dredge-builder DSC Dredge, of Reserve, Louisiana. The dredge-building crew is due to arrive in Santa Cruz on Tuesday, and their equipment and tools on Wednesday, Ekers said. The dredge parts may not begin arriving until Friday, however, she said.
The public boat launch will be closed for the duration of the dredge assembly. Temporary fencing will be erected around the boat launch to deter use, which early schedules set to last at least through June 22.
Lake Avenue will be closed to parking from Eaton Street to the launch ramp entrance during the day to allow room for arrival of the large loads. Traffic will be allowed on Lake Avenue, but will be controlled by a flagger when trucks are arriving.
“We had hoped to coordinate that effort to minimize the impact on our neighbors, tenants and customers, but unfortunately the schedule became too unpredictable,” Ekers wrote in a June 9 harbor newsletter. “The good news is that the deliveries are only expected to impact Lake Avenue for a few minutes at a time, then traffic will be able to flow again.”
Hand launch ramps for dinghies, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards on the west side of the harbor will be unaffected.
The new dredge’s arrival comes as the Port Authority concludes work to scoop out the winter season’s annual sediment dump into the harbor mouth and river runoff carried down into the North Harbor. The new machinery, purchased for nearly $5 million, will supplant the 30-year-old “Seabright” dredge, which is now for sale “as-is.”
The latest winter had a marked recreational impact on local and visiting boat owners, who found themselves locked into or out of the harbor for the majority of the season while dredging crews scrambled to clear the harbor mouth. Regular shutdowns of the aging dredge equipment compounded problems, and local harbor business owner and fishing crews faced tough economic realities.
“Four years of drought followed by El Niño stormwater runoff, king tides, high surf, southerly swells and a severely aged dredge combined to produce the most rapid and complete shoaling of the federal entrance channel in recent memory,” Port Director Ekers wrote in the district’s February budget message.
Once assembled, air bags beneath the dredge will be inflated to help move the machinery into the water, Ekers said Monday.
To offset impact to harbor users, authorities offered discounted launch fees and berthing for trailer-drawn vessels and suggest alternative free harbor water taxi transportation on Thursdays and weekends.
Once the dredge is complete, a commissioning ceremony will be scheduled for a date in July.
What: Santa Cruz harbor launch ramp closure, Lake Avenue parking limited and Lake Avenue, Fifth Avenue and East Cliff Drive traffic impacts.
When: Beginning June 14.
Where: Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor.
Watch: santacruzharbor.org/harborCams.
Information: santacruzharbor.org or 831-475-6161.
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel
