The Ocean City Today reported that The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started working on improving the navigability of Ocean City Inlet and the Assateague bypass this week, and plan to be in the area for the next month.
Brittany Crissman, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army Corps Baltimore District, said the dredge MURDEN arrived in Ocean City on Jan. 21 and then spent the next two and a half days dredging the inlet channel.
As soon as it was finished inside the inlet, the dredge moved off the coast of Assateague Island to clear shoaling in what’s known as the Assateague bypass.
The MURDEN was last seen in the area back in September when the dredge cleared sand from the inlet and bypass and moved the material just south of the inlet and offshore from Assateague Island to counter erosion along the beach.
The sand was placed approximately 3,500 feet south of the south jetty, an area that is typically deprived of sand.
The littoral drift of sand moves from north to south along the Ocean City beach. But because of the jetty system, sand piles up north of the rocks and the rest is either sucked into the inlet by an incoming tide or pushed past the jetties before further down the beach.
Work being done over the next month is also expected to counteract erosion to the south of the south jetty.
Crews will dredge continuously for 24 hours a day, removing sand from in and around the channel, with a strong emphasis on shoals.
According to Crissman, the dredging is separate from another project that will address a deep scour hole in Sinepuxent Bay just west of the inlet near Homer Gudelsky Park.
Last August, the corps held a public meeting at the Berlin library to discuss its plans to shift the inlet channel into deeper water while connecting to the Assateague breakwater and the Sinepuxent Channel.
As part of that plan, the corps was looking for public input on whether to fill the underwater pit that is approximately 20-feet deep, then top it off with rocks or prefabricated stone mattresses to ensure the fill remains in place.
An alternative solution, which would improve water flow throughout the bay the most, was to cap the hole and remove a mid-channel shoal in the bay.
Neither of those solutions have moved forward, to date.
Instead, the environmental assessment of the scour hole study is being finalized, Crissman explained, which will include data “soon to be received” from the Corps of Engineers research and development modellers, who reviewed the observations and a sea-level rise analysis.
Dredging continues off Assateague Island | News | oceancitytoday.com
