Posted on June 5, 2017
By Claire Lowe, pressof AtlanticCity.com
Engineers will talk about the city’s plan to dredge the back bay at a town hall meeting Saturday morning at the Tabernacle.
ACT Engineering officials will present the plans for the 2017 dredging program and other long-term efforts to keep the lagoons and channels navigable, according to a press release from the city.
Ocean City has been long trying to tackle more than 900,000 cubic yards of silt that has built up in the back bay, narrowing channels and causing problems for boaters.
Earlier this year, the city backed off a plan to use city property at Shelter Road to de-water dredged material after pushback from residents and costs associated with relocating Public Works operations.
ACT Engineers, a firm the city hired in 2015 to develop a long-term dredging plan, has been working with state and federal regulators “on a number of different options for alternative disposal methods,” the statement read.
That may include wetlands restoration using thin-layer disposal or alternative sites for dewatering.
The city has done several small dredgings in the past two years. It will continue to use the confined disposal facility (CDF) site at Route 52 to complete mechanical dredging projects at the north end of the island this summer, the city said in January.
A second CDF near 34th Street, called Site 83, is also being used to store dredged material. The city recently built a temporary road to the site to reduce the cost of emptying it for future projects.
Source: Cape May County
