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DEP & U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Announce “Broad Thorofare” Dredging Project:
Section of Intracoastal Waterway to Open for First Time
in Decade
(03/73) EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP –
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today announced that
the Broad Thorofare section of the Intracoastal Waterway
– closed for more than a decade due to shoaling, will
be dredged to provide access and safe passage for commercial
and recreational vessels.
"The Broad Thorofare project –
long overdue – will reopen this important artery for
thousands of New Jersey boaters and highlight the importance
of clean, open waterways for the many residents and transient
boaters who contribute to our shore economies," said
DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell. "I am especially
grateful to Congressman LoBiondo for fighting for federal
funding to match the state share for this and other projects."
"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
is very happy to be a partner in this project to open this
portion of the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway Federal
navigation project to commercial and recreational vessels,"
said the Army Corps Philadelphia District Commander Thomas
C. Chapman. "The boating public will definitely benefit
from this combined federal/state effort."
As part of the Broad Thorofare project,
approximately two and one-quarter miles of sediments (estimated
to be between 40,000 to 80,000 cubic yards of sand) will
be dredged along the Intracoastal Waterway - west of Longport
and north of Ocean City in Atlantic County. Through an agreement
between the DEP and the state Department of Transportation,
approximately $75,000 from the New Jersey Transportation
Trust Fund is available for the placement of the dredged
sediments. The actual dredging activities are funded by
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was appropriated
$500,000 for maintenance dredging in New Jersey. Dredging
of the Broad Thorofare will begin in July.
Recognizing that shore tourism contributes
more than half of the $31 billion in tourism expenditures
in New Jersey, Nancy J. Byrne, executive director of the
NJ Office of Travel and Tourism, applauded state and federal
efforts to move the dredging project forward. "One
of the many reasons for the great appeal of the New Jersey
coast is the tremendous diversity of our shoreline,"
said Byrne. "We are delighted to work with the DEP,
the federal government, and organizations like the Marine
Trades Association to increase awareness and expand boating
and marine opportunities for visitors and residents alike."
For nearly a decade, Broad Thorofare remained
closed to recreational and commercial vessel access by order
of the U.S. Coast Guard and was last dredged in 1982.
The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is a
navigable interconnected thread of passages running 1,500
miles between the mainland and offshore islands, along rivers,
through lakes, lagoons, bays and canals, from the tip of
Florida to Maine.
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