News Dispatches Shoal going on the ICW
Oct. 7

Shoal going on the ICW

Last Updated (07 October 2009)
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Dredging2Hands down, Georgia remains the most difficult stretch of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to navigate. The problem is shoaling, and that is likely to remain the case until the state finds some environmentally acceptable spoil disposal sites.

That's the bad news.

The good news is the ICW has won $22.2 million in federal stimulus money for dredging and other improvements, which should alleviate some of the shoaling.

According to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association, there are a few areas outside of Georgia that see big gains from the $22.2 million in federal stimulus money for dredging and other improvements. The big winners, by Army Corps of Engineers district, are:

·        Jacksonville, Fla. — $6.175 million for dredging around Palm Valley and to construct a spoil area for future dredging.

·        Wilmington, N.C. — $4.4 million for dredging inlet crossings and other dredging from Morehead City to the South Carolina line, plus small business maintenance dredging and dike work from Morehead City to Virginia.

·        Charleston, S.C. — $4 million for dredging and some dike maintenance on the Little River to Port Royal. Authorized depth will be 12 feet in critical areas so vessels can transit the length of the waterway without going into the ocean.

·        Norfolk, Va. — $1.75 million for upgrades of the North Landing Bridge in Virginia and South Mills Bridge on the Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina.

"The projects funded by stimulus money have started already or are expected to start by the end of [October]," says Rosemary Lynch, executive director of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association in Raleigh, N.C.

Georgia gets $5.9 million in stimulus money for dredging in Florida Passage, Buttermilk Sound, Altamaha Sound and Fields Cut, but the worst shoaling - in Little Mud River and Jekyll Creek - isn't on the stimulus list because there are no nearby sites permitted for disposing of the dredge spoils.

The silty mud on the bottom of Little Mud River and Jekyll Creek can't be contained in the surrounding marshes, which are protected habitat, says Billy Birdwell, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Savannah, Ga. "We have other options, but we don't have the money for them," Birdwell says.

Piping dredge spoils and then dumping them offshore or developing new containment areas are costly. "It's $12 million just to get started," he says. So the $5.9 million in stimulus money will be used to clear shoaling elsewhere on Georgia's ICW.

Little Mud River and Jekyll Creek rank first and second, respectively, for the worst shoaling on the 1,200 miles of ICW from Norfolk, Va., to Key West, Fla., says Claiborne Young, author of several cruising guides and publisher of Salty Southeast Cruisers' Net.

Dredging1Young's readers report depths of 6 feet or less in some places at low tide. "The Little Mud River section of the ICW, particularly the section just north of the waterway's intersection with Altamaha Sound, is universally considered to be the worst single stretch of the AICW," Young writes on his site. "The solution: Time your passage through Little Mud River for high tide."

The worst shoaling on Jekyll Creek is north of the Jekyll Island bridge near flashing daybeacon No. 19. Young advises navigating this section at mid- to high tide.

AIWA's Lynch says cruisers must remain vigilant on these stretches of the waterway. "They're passable, but they're difficult," she says.

 

Related story: Tom Neale's ICW guide


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