Corps keeps channel clear for vessels at Chincoteague

Posted March 1, 2011
By Patrick Bloodgood
Norfolk District Public Affairs

02/23/2011 - CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. — The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin annual scheduled maintenance dredging of the Chincoteague Inlet federal navigation channel March 6 to keep the channel open and safe for commercial and recreational watercraft.

The Corps Dredge Currituck will remove about 100,000 cubic yards of beach quality sand that's creating shoals in the channel and could present a hazard to local commercial and recreational boaters.

The dredge should not interfere with boaters navigating the channel. The Currituck, scheduled to be onsite for 21 days, will work around-the-clock to remove the potential hazards from the channel.

"We work very closely with the local boating community to ensure our operations have little to no impact on their abilities to transit through the channel; however, boaters do need to be especially aware around the dredge and remain clear while they are working," said Gregg Williams, the Norfolk District project manager for the dredging.

The sand the dredge collects from the project will be placed just offshore of NASA's Wallops Island facility.

The Chincoteague Inlet is the gateway to the largest commercial port on the Eastern Shore, handling more than 3,000 vessels a year, including U.S. Coast Guard vessels. The annual project was approved in 1972 by the chief of engineers under the authority of Section 107 of the River and Harbor act of July 14, 1960.