[EXPIRED] Coast Guard To Create Safety Zone During Snow’s Cut Bridge Project
Snows Cut Bridge crosses the Snows Cut portion of the Waterway passage at Statute Mile 295.5, west-southwest of flashing daybeacon #161. This article is quoted from the Island Gazette, Caroline Beach, NC.
By WILLARD KILLOUGH III
Managing Editor
CAROLINA BEACH – The upcoming Snow’s Cut Bridge rehab project is to begin sometime this coming fall. In anticipation of that project, the U.S. Coast Guard will implement a safety zone in the waterway to ensure safe passage amid bridge construction.
According to the Federal Register at www.federalregister.gov the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has awarded a contract to American Bridge Company of Virginia Beach, Virginia to perform bridge maintenance on the U.S. 421 Fixed Bridge crossing the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, mile 295.6, at Carolina Beach, North Carolina. The contract provides for cleaning, painting, and steel repair to commence on December 20, 2012 with a completion date of October 31, 2013. The contractor will utilize a 40 foot by 60 foot sectional barge as a work platform and for equipment staging.
The Coast Guard proposes to establish a temporary safety zone on the waters of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway at Carolina Beach. The safety zone is necessary to provide for the safety of mariners on navigable waters during maintenance on the U.S. 421 Fixed Bridge crossing the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, mile 295.6, at Carolina Beach, North Carolina. The safety zone will temporarily restrict vessel movement within the designated area starting on December 20, 2012 through October 31, 2013.
The Coast Guard believes that a safety zone is needed to provide a safety buffer to transiting vessels as bridge repairs present potential hazards to mariners and property due to reduction of horizontal clearance.
The safety zone would be in effect from 8 a.m. December 20, 2012 through 8 p.m. October 31, 2013. During this period the Coast Guard would require a one hour notification to the work supervisor for passage through the U.S. 421 Fixed Bridge along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, mile 295.6, Carolina Beach, North Carolina. The bridge notification requirement would apply during the maintenance period for vessels requiring a horizontal clearance of greater than 60 feet.
According to the Coast Guard, this proposed rule would affect the following entities, some of which may be small entities: The owners or operators of commercial tug and barge companies, recreational and commercial fishing vessels intending to transit the specified portion of Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
The Coast Guard explains the safety zone would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities for the following reasons. The Coast Guard states, “Although the safety zone will apply to this section of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, vessel traffic will be able to request passage by providing a one hour advanced notification to the work supervisor. Before the effective period, the Coast Guard will issue maritime advisories widely available to the users of the waterway.”
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