The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deployed their hopper dredger Currituck to Florida in February 2017 to provide relief to small inlets and waterways clogged by recent storms.
The Currituck will travel to the east and the west coasts of Florida before moving north in mid-April, USACE said in its latest release.
The first stop for the dredger alleviated a critical shoal in at the intersection of the Intracoastal Waterway (IWW) and the Okeechobee Waterway in an area called Crossroads. The Crossroads work removed approximately 35,000 cubic yards of sand from the waterways.
During a pause in dredging at Crossroads, the Currituck removed a shoal in the IWW near the Bakers Haulover Inlet in Dade County that had accumulated into an above-ground sand bar – narrowing and shallowing the waterway for even small boats. The dredger removed over 8,000 cubic yards of sand, placing it in the water near the shore of Bal Harbor Beach.
The Currituck is now making its way to the west coast of Florida and will dredge through early April in Manatee County, Cut M-5, also known as Jewfish Key.
Approximately 10,000 cubic yards of material will be removed and placed off of Egmont Key in the nearshore water disposal area. The last stop for the dredge is the Ponce De Leon Inlet in Volusia County to remove approximately 130,000 cubic yards of sand that will be placed in the nearshore, off New Smyrna Beach.
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