The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $5.9 million maintenance dredging contract earlier this week for portions of the Intracoastal Waterway (IWW) in St. Johns and Flagler counties to Southwind Construction Corporation of Evansville, Indiana.
It is expected that the dredging operations will start in September and take approximately six months to complete.
The work will be performed with a cutter suction dredge with utilization of a pipeline to transport the dredge material to the beach south of the Matanzas Inlet.
“Once started, the Corps anticipates dredging operations will continue 24 hours a day, seven days per week,” USACE said ib its release.
Work consists of maintenance dredging to the authorized project depth of 12-feet plus 2-feet of allowable overdepth for a total of approximately 300,000 cubic yards of beach quality sand.
The St. Johns County area consists of IWW cuts SJ-59, SJ- 60, SJ-61, and the settling basin adjacent to cuts SJ-60 and SJ-61. In Flagler County, the dredging area consists of cut F-2.
According to USACE, Southwind Construction will pump the dredged material via pipeline from these areas onto the beach at Summer Haven, south of Matanzas Inlet.