USA: Dredge Currituck Starts Operations in St. Augustine Inlet

The low-slung U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge Currituck started operations in St. Augustine Inlet about 1 p.m. Wednesday, aiming to remove tons of sand and make the choked channel safer for boats.

Officials said the 180-foot Currituck will pump 4,000 to 5,000 cubic yards of sand into its hold over the next two days and dump it three miles away off St. Augustine Beach.

Sand will be taken from the shallowest and most dangerous part of the channel, near buoys 5 and 5A.

The boat can carry about 300 cubic yards, or 2,700 cubic feet, of sand at one time.

St. Augustine Port, Waterway & Beach Commission board member Herb Rippe said late Wednesday that he went out to watch the boat work.

“They’ll depart Friday,” Rippe said. “We were trying to get them to stay.”

At one point last week, it looked like the Currituck would be able to stay until it had pumped a total of 30,000 to 35,000 cubic yards at a cost of $300,000 to the Port, Rippe said.

But the timing didn’t work. The Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., just couldn’t process the paperwork that quickly, and Currituck is scheduled to begin a job in North Carolina soon.

Rippe said it will have to come back for 10 to 12 days to dredge the entire channel.

“When we get that done, once again we’ll have a straight channel,” he said.

At buoys 5 and 5A, sand has intruded into the channel proper so much so that boats leaving and arriving pass too closely together.

Rippe said the dredge operation is “kind of cool.”

“They cruise over an area they want to dredge and start their pumps,” he said. “Sand and water are pumped onto the boat. The sand goes into the hopper and the water goes overboard.”

City Commissioner Bill Leary, who went to Washington to try and expedite the “local support agreement” between the Corps of Engineers and the Port, said the Corps agreed to allow the Currituck to return in September or October to finish the job.

He said the Corps “reprogrammed” $50,000 to pay for the dredging going on now.

“We couldn’t get the agreement done in a week,” Leary said. “The agreement has to go through a lot of layers. And there’s a lot of these (projects) going on around the country.

The dredging project was possible due to Leary’s assistance, plus the contributions of Carl Blow, Florida Inland Navigation District commissioner; Jim Piggott, director of general services for the city of St. Augustine; and the Port, Waterway board who voted last week to declare an emergency,

“Everybody moved with a speed that you normally don’t see in government,” Leary said.

(staugustine)

[mappress]

Source: staugustine, August 11, 2011; Image: usace