Dredging Promised at Breach Inlet Problem Stretch, AICW Statute Mile 459
Inland Waterway at Breach Inlet to get long-awaited dredging
Prentiss Findlay
Prentiss Findlay Email Facebook @prentissfindlay
Nov 13 2015 12:26 pm Nov 13 4:50 pm
The Intracoastal Waterway at Breach Inlet will be dredged to improve navigation.
Dredging of the dangerously shallow Intracoastal Waterway at Breach Inlet between Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms begins this week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.
`It’s long overdue,’ said Charleston County Councilman Dickie Schweers.
The county contributed $500,000 to the nearly $3 million effort which includes work in McClellanville to dredge a waterway channel for fishing trawlers.
Some $2.4 million in federal funds has been authorized for both projects.
`This project is a prime example of how collaboration between federal and non-federal partners for dredging can lead to increased waterway maintenance,’ said Brad Pickel, executive director of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association.
The waterway at Breach Inlet is almost dry at low tide because of shoaling, a condition in which sand builds up and blocks the channel. The authorized channel depth is 12 feet and the width is 90 feet.
Waterway dredging at the inlet will last about a week, said Glenn Jeffries, Corps spokeswoman.
Mile-long Jeremy Creek in McClellanville, which is part of the waterway, will be dredged starting in mid-January, Jeffries said.
`This schedule is tentative. Weather and machinery have a lot to do with a dredging schedule. But we will start in Breach Inlet for sure,’ she said.
The last substantial funding the Army Corps received for waterway dredging was in 2009 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Waterway conditions at Breach Inlet at low tide have been blamed for boating injuries. `There’s just been a huge safety issue out there,’ said IOP City Administrator Linda Tucker.
A Mount Pleasant woman was seriously injured in a 2013 boating accident blamed on the shallow waterway. She was traveling in a 44-foot trawler drawing 3 feet 10 inches of water that hit bottom. The impact caused her to fall. Doctors determined she had a fractured vertebrae, a concussion and a broken rib. She spent two nights in the hospital, officials said.
IOP Marina and Charleston City Marina lose customers because recreational vessels often go offshore to avoid the waterway here, said IOP Mayor Dick Cronin.
`They just basically have bypassed our marina and the city marina to a large extent,’ he said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s office was instrumental in getting funds for the dredging, Cronin said.
`We had appealed to everybody and their brother,’ he said.
In McClellanville, Jeremy Creek is the route to two seafood processing plants. But it has become a muddy mess that idles trawlers for long stretches of the day, said Mayor Rutledge Leland.
`It’s getting worse and worse. Every time you see a boat moving anywhere from half-tide on down there’s mud boiling up behind it,’ he said.
After dredging, the creek will be eight feet deep at low tide, he said.
`That should help for a couple or three years anyway. It will start silting immediately. We’ll have to start arguing and lobbying and begging almost as soon as they get through but that’s the way it works to get ourselves into the next budget,’ he said.
The creek was created from mud flats as part of the original waterway project, he said.
Some states, such as Florida and North Carolina, have dedicated funding for waterway maintenance. The Florida Inland Navigation District collects about $20 million annually to pay for waterway maintenance in 12 counties. North Carolina funds waterway maintenance through boater registration fees and the gas tax.
Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s “AICW Problem Stretches” Listing For the AICW North of Ben Sawyer Bridge to Isle of Palms Bridge
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To This AICW Problem Stretch
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