Oceanside Maintenance Dredging Plan Announced
January 16, 2013
Byline: Taylor Hill
OCEANSIDE — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is in charge of maintaining federal waterways and channels, has announced a new maintenance dredging plan for Oceanside Harbor.
The plan describes the annual expected dredging requirements to maintain Oceanside Harbor’s federal navigation channel and sand trap through 2015. The Corps of Engineers expects to take out around 180,000 cubic yards per year as part of the project.
According to the Corps’ outline, the project is expected to cost $5 million to $10 million over the three-year period.
Dredging contractors are currently submitting bids for the project, expected to be awarded by March 1. According to Oceanside Harbor and Beaches director Frank Quan, the harbor undergoes maintenance dredging each spring, with much of the sediment being used for beach sand replenishment in Oceanside.
The current project details a sand replenishment program that would target beaches south of the Oceanside Pier, south of Tyson Street.
Quan said the city would like to place the material south of the pier, but in the past several years, much of the sediment from harbor maintenance dredging had to be placed in the 900 block of the North Strand (north of the pier), in order to support a discharge pipe.
Last year, Phase 1 of the maintenance dredging ran from May 16-25, focusing on Oceanside Harbor’s entrance channel. A total of 177,701 cubic yards of sediment were placed at the North Strand beach site. The second beach fill phase started May 29 and ended June 1 of last year, with around 68,000 cubic yards of sediment being placed just north of the pier.
