The maintenance
and advance maintenance dredging of the Cape Cod Canal and the sand placement
onto Town Neck Beach in Sandwich, Massachusetts is complete. Work on the project concluded on Jan. 20.
Approximately
130,000 cubic yards of sand was dredged from six areas in the authorized,
32-foot-deep by 500-foot-wide main ship channel and the 25-foot deep East
Mooring Basin portions of the Canal.
“Shoaling in the main ship channel consists of large wave formations,”
said Project Manager Bill Kavanaugh.
“These formations cause draft restrictions, tidal delays and hazardous
conditions for deep-draft commercial vessels transiting the canal.”
The Cape Cod Canal
is a toll-free, open-to-all waterway that connects Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod
Bay. The project is used by both commercial and recreational vessels and
eliminates the need to transit around Cape Cod, a distance of approximately 135
miles and a more hazardous route.
The District’s
contractor, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, LLC of Oak Brook, Illinois,
used the Dodge Island, a hydraulic hopper dredge with pump out capability and
ancillary equipment necessary for direct beach placement of the dredged
material. The Contractor pumped the material
directly on the 2,500-foot-long eroded section of Town Neck Beach.
Originally
scheduled to take 2-3 months to complete, the entire dredging and sand
placement only took two and a half weeks.
In addition to adding sand to the beach, New England District and its
contractor are also going to add dune grass plantings. “Great Lakes has the planting on the schedule
to begin late January and going into February,” said Kavanaugh. “It should take a month to complete, but that
is very dependent on weather conditions.
Work must be completed by the end of March.”
The
sand was placed just prior to Winter Storm Jonas hitting the Cape on Jan.
23. Early indications are that the sand
held well during the storm. The town of Sandwich provided $2,957,900 in funding
to place the sandy material directly onto the beach and for dune grass
plantings