NJDOT to Dredge Along Wildwoods After Labor Day

WEST WILDWOOD – A New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) dredging project that will extend from North Wildwood to Wildwood Crest is expected to begin after Labor Day, West Wildwood Mayor Matt Ksiazek said May 17.
A spokesman for the NJDOT said the NJDOT Office of Maritime Resources will be dredging state boating channels in North Wildwood, Wildwood, and West Wildwood from the mouth of Beach Creek to Post Creek Basin starting in early September to the end of January 2024 to remove shoals and restore navigability.
According to the NJDOT, approximately 124,000 cubic yards of sediment will be removed using a hydraulic cutterhead pipeline dredge and pumped to one of three sites for dewatering. Dredging operations will take place 24 hours per day, seven days a week, during this timeframe.
The three sites identified for dewatering are 401/501 West 26th Ave. in North Wildwood, 510 New York Ave. in North Wildwood, and 525 West Spicer Ave. in Wildwood.
Once dewatered, the material will be removed from the site and trucked to the Tuckahoe Turf Farm in Atlantic County for use as agricultural soil. Trucking operations will begin on or about Feb. 1, 2024, and will be completed on or about May 31, 2024, and will follow main routes to and from the sites in accordance with municipal and county approved trucking routes.
Wildwood Crest Administrator Connie Mahon said the North Wildwood to Wildwood portion of the project would end this year and continue with the Wildwood Crest portion.
“Our project is from the Intracoastal Waterway into Sunset Lake outward toward Schooner Island Marina,” she said.
Mahon said in dredging, the direction of the state channel would be changed. She said the dredged sediment, or what is referred to as beneficial materials, would be used. She said it is all tested to determine there are no contaminants, and, in fact, proved to be very clean.
“It’s so clean they already have approval to use it in (state) wildlife management areas,” Mahon said.
Ksiazek said the entire project is NJDOT-funded and will not cost the municipalities anything, but the dredging project is limited to state waterways.