OCEAN CITY — The federal Army Corps of Engineers is preparing to undertake a major maintenance dredging project for navigation channels in the coastal bays with dredged material intended to be spread at various important ecological sites in and around the resort.
The Army Corps of Engineers earlier this month posted a public notice about the maintenance dredging of navigation channels in the coastal bays planned for this winter and early next spring. The Isle of Wight Bay channel will be dredged from the Inlet to 8th Street in Ocean City. The channel is authorized to a depth of six feet and a width of 125 feet from the Inlet to 8th Street and then a width of 75 feet into the Isle of Wight Bay.
Dredged material will be removed to the project depth of six feet, plus two feet of allowable over-depth, for a total of eight feet. Roughly 18,000 cubic yards of material consisting primarily of fine-grain sand will be hydraulically dredged and the dredged material will be pumped onto the Dog and Bitch Islands near the Thorofare to increase and enhance the migratory bird habitats on the islands.
The Sinepuxent Bay channel will be dredged from the head of the commercial harbor in West Ocean City to Green Point, just north of South Point near Assateague. The Sinepuxent channel will also be dredged to a depth of six feet and a width of 150 feet near the harbor to 100 feet further south to Green Point. Roughly 418,000 cubic yards of dredged material consisting of fine sand and silt will be hydraulically dredged and the dredge spoils will be deposited at four different locations in and around the resort area.
Section 1 contains approximately 245,000 cubic yards of dredged sand that will be placed in the vicinity of Robin’s Marsh. The roughly 55,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from Section 2 will be placed unconfined in the vicinity of an historic island near Green Point and will also be used to enhance and increase migratory bird habitat.
Roughly 57,000 cubic yards of sand and silt dredged from Section 3 will be placed on a historic but deteriorating island near Green Point and will also be used for migratory bird habitat. Finally, about 61,000 cubic yards of dredged sand and silt taken from Section 4 will be placed on the Inlet beach.
Ocean City Engineer Terry McGean this week said the massive undertaking is expected to begin in late December or early January and run through May. However, all of the work north of the Assateague bridge is expected to be complete by April 1. The project will be managed and fully funded at 100 percent by the Army Corps.
Priceless Each Friday, 52 Weeks a Year!