Posted on January 21, 2021
EMERALD ISLE — After years of planning, dredging of Old Ferry Channel in Bogue Sound between Cape Carteret and Emerald Isle, as well as in Deer Creek in Cape Carteret, is underway.
Greg Rudolph, manager of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office, which oversees dredging and beach nourishment projects, said Friday work started Thursday in the channel.
The dredge from T.D. Eure of Beaufort will slowly move toward shore and eventually into Deer Creek and its tributaries, which provide access to deep water for Cape Carteret residents and visitors.
Mr. Rudolph thinks work in the creek should begin toward the end March. That includes the connector between Deer Creek and the ferry channel, Deer Creek North, Deer Creek South, Deer Creek North Extension and Schoolhouse Creek. Deer Creek North will probably be the last segment dredged, he said.
T.D. Eure won the contract for the project last year with a low bid of $1.45 million.
“T.D. Eure did a great job getting the (dredge spoils) disposal sites ready,” said Mr. Rudolph, who anticipates a smooth project.
Dredged material from the channel and Deer Creek will be stored, until it dries, on three properties owned by Paxon Holz and another owned by her brother, John “Bubba” McLean and John McLean Sr. Ms. Holz said Friday she and her family donated use of their properties to help the project because they believe it’s good for Cape Carteret.
“We don’t even have boats,” she said. “But this will benefit so many people in town.”
The site donors get to keep the dredged material and can sell it for fill material, but Ms. Holz isn’t sure it will be worth selling, as it’s mostly mud and probably full of oyster shells.
Two-thirds of the cost of the project is being paid through the state Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund, with the county, Cape Carteret and property owners along the creek splitting the remaining third.
Meanwhile, the start date for the $36.1 million Emerald Isle beach nourishment project has been pushed back two to three weeks, from the last week of January to Friday, Feb. 12.
Mr. Rudolph said Thursday he’s not concerned that phase three of the post-Hurricane Florence project on Bogue Banks will run past the Friday, April 30 environmental deadline.
“Akin to building a house from the ground up, there’s always delays,” Mr. Rudolph said in an email. “While inconvenient perhaps, there is no cause for alarm.
“We started our Phase II project last year on February 5 with a similar amount of cubic yards (a little more than 2 million), albeit (with) a shorter sail distance to and from the borrow sources off Atlantic Beach compared to the Phase III Project.”
Phase two included western Atlantic Beach and Pine Knoll Shores, plus some of Emerald Isle.
The work will begin with the Liberty Island, one of two dredges involved, dredging up the sand and hauling it to the far western end of Emerald Isle for discharge by pipe to the beach. However, Mr. Rudolph said contractor Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. of Illinois plans to make up for the later start by bringing in its larger-capacity dredge, the Ellis Island, earlier than planned. That means the two will work in tandem for a longer period in order to meet the deadline, which is set primarily so dredging will be finished before sea turtles arrive in area waters.
“Otherwise,” Mr. Rudolph said Thursday, “the mobilization schedule pretty much remains the same.”
Water-based equipment – submerged pipelines, tugboats and ancillary vessels – has already started arriving at the State Port of Morehead City. Land-based equipment, such as beach pipes, bulldozers and front-end loaders, will begin arriving this week at the vehicular beach access site at the dog leg on Ocean Drive in Emerald Isle.
Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email Brad@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.
Source: carolinacoastonline
