Second year of Manasquan River dredging gets underway

The second year of a multi-million dollar dredging project in the Manasquan River is underway, state officials announced. 

The $3.4 million project includes the Lower Manasquan, Wills Hole, Wills Hole West, Kings Bridge, and Crabtown Creek in Brielle, Manasquan, Point Pleasant, and Point Pleasant Beach, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation. 

It began during the fall of 2016, when crews completed dredging of the Lower Manasquan River Channel and parts of the Wills Hole Thorofare Channel.

Crews will work 24-hours a day, 7-days a week from July through December 31. The dredging spoils will be placed within a confined disposal facility (CDF) on Gull Island. 

Officials say channel use will be limited when the dredge is in the operation and where the pipeline carrying dredged material to its placement location is laid. 

The state contract was awarded to Village Dock Contracting, Inc. of Port Jefferson, New York last year.

Since Hurricane Sandy, the federal government has dredged the Manasquan Inlet channel to remove shoaling and improved the inlet’s north jetty.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Manasquan River “provides a safe, reliable navigation channel for commercial, recreational, and the U.S. Coast Guard, with an annual direct fish value of over $22 million per year.”