The St. Augustine Inlet Channel will be dredged

30 feet deep by 200 feet wide

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA., (Nov. 14, 2011) — Due to minimal jetties, the St. Augustine Inlet has always been a challenge to navigate. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Notice to Mariners lists the St. Augustine Inlet as ‘dangerous due to shifting shoaling’. Through the concerted efforts of the St. Augustine Port, Waterways & Beach District (SAPWBD), Saint Johns County, US Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) and other local agencies, the St. Augustine Inlet channel will be dredged 30 feet deep by 200 feet across in the immediate future.

Over the last three years, multiple boats have run aground while attempting to enter the channel. Most recently, a $1MM sport fishing boat went aground on a shoal and a single-handed rescue captain on a rescue vessel was swept out to sea when the towline parted, and nearly drowned. The City of St. Augustine and the local marine industry was being hurt by the potential dangers of the inlet and word had gotten out to transient boaters seeking a safe port between Mayport and the Ponce Inlet.

The SAPWBD requested and was able to have the USCG move a couple of the channel markers to better identify the navigable channel in July 2011. Mariners had become wary of the inlet, as a result of YouTube™ videos graphically showing the recent boating incidents in the inlet.

The maintenance of the channel and inlet for navigation is the responsibility of the SAPWBD with the US Army Corp. of Engineers (ACOE) however due to recent financial constraints resources have been focused on commercial port navigation. Although the Florida Inland Navigation District’s (FIND) primary responsibility is maintaining the ICW, they offered to assist the SAPWBD any way they could. After a meeting in Washington D.C. with agency officials, the ACOE was able to ‘reallocate’ $50k in funds for emergency dredging and the SAPWBD approved up to $300k in funding for additional emergency dredging pending the availability of the ACOE’s dredging vessel, the Currituck between scheduled commercial port dredging operations.

Working with the ACOE, the Currituck was able to make a quick stop in St. Augustine to dredge approximately 4,800 cubic yards around marker 5A in August 2011. Unfortunately, marker 5A disappeared three days after the Currituck left, once again making channel navigation challenging. The last time the inlet was fully dredged was 1999.

Unfortunately, the City of St. Augustine stated they had no funds available to help pay. A south Ponte Vedra/Vilano Beach homeowner group had delayed dredging permits because they opposed taking sand from the ebb shoals as they believe the ebb shoals increased erosion to their ocean-front properties north of the inlet.

In September 2011, a contract was brokered by the St. Johns County Commissioners and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) with the Ponte Vedra/Vilano Beach homeowner group which would allow the ACOE to dredge 2.1 million cubic yards of sand from the inlet and place it on St. Augustine beach as part of the federally-authorized Beach Re-nourishment project.

Dredging should begin in early 2012. The channel will be dredged 200 feet wide by 30 feet deep and the cost, which is estimated to be $16-24 million, will be funded by the federal government, St. Johns County and the FDEP.

The SAPWBD, St. Johns County Commissioners, ACOE, FDEP, and FIND as well as other local, state and government officials were critical in making the dredging happen.