Posted on October 20, 2015
A major dredging project is about to get under way near South Padre Island. Crews are about to dredge the Brazos Island harbor jetty and entrance channels. The project will make sure the 23-mile long channel is 42-feet deep by 300-feet wide.
South Padre Island will benefit from the dredging. All of the dredged sand will be moved to an area near Clayton’s, a busy area on the island.
Clayton’s is also an area which deals with the most erosion. The project is expected to be completed by February.
Boat owners in Port Isabel don’t know when dredging will be done in their city. Their popular area, Fingers, still hasn’t been dredged.
Pat Soddy said he waited patiently, as town leaders promised the Port Isabel Fingers would be dredged. Soddy said it was time to act. He said nothing has been done in a year.
City leaders have been planning to dredge Fingers for months. While they plan, sand piles underwater. Some boats are getting stuck in sand.
“I’ve heard nothing about any dredges,” Soddy said. “I haven’t seen any survey marks out there where they’d put a spoil.”
Soddy said he planned an overnight voyage on his board out of Fingers.
“I lucked out,” he said. “In the morning, was a real high tide on the 23rd, and I was able to get it out, almost all the way out. I got towed part of the way out.”
Soddy sailed his boat directly to South Point Maria. It’s now being inspected and prepped to be placed back in water.
“I’ve got to find a new home for her, where I can come and go as I want,” Soddy said. “I’m sad, I can’t take it back into the Fingers because I do like the area over there, but there’s no way I can get in and out of there.”
Soddy can now hit the open water without worrying about hitting the sandbar.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS reached out to Port Isabel to find out when they plan to start dredging. We haven’t heard back from the yet.
