By Mike Busch 8-29-18
Equipment for the Moriches Inlet Dredging project has started arriving, with 5 tugboats now surveying between Smith Point and the Inlet and delivering the first of three shipments of the 5 miles of pipe needed to start the project. The $10 million emergency project was approved by the Army Corp of Engineers earlier in the year after shoaling created by a series of Nor’easters last Winter and Spring.
Moriches Inlet Shoaling | March 23, 2018
The last time Moriches Inlet was dredged was 2012 after Superstorm Sandy.
“A series of Nor’easters earlier this year created a safety issue, making it difficult for U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue team vessels to respond to lifesaving missions within Moriches Bay or the Atlantic Ocean in this portion of the region,” said USACE.
The work will involve dredging and removing between 150,000 and 300,000 cubic yards of sand, to be piped and reused five miles west of Moriches Inlet in front of Smith Point Beach.
The maintenance dredging will restore Moriches Inlet to its federally authorized depth of 10 feet deep and 200 feet wide, and is estimated to be completed in mid-October 2018.
Week’s Marine out of Cranford, New Jersey has the contract and had two tugs on the site on Monday night, the Monica Lynn and the Sea Wolf. The images below were taken Monday evening inside Moriches Inlet.
You can track all the work boats and any new ships that arrive on MarineTraffic.com. Below is the track of Monica Lynn yesterday and today between the Inlet and Smith Point, apparently surveying the bottom and preparing for the pipe.
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