Feds to provide $12.4M to dredge Oregon Inlet

Boaters and commercial fishermen are breathing sighs of relief over news that federal stimulus funds will be available to completely dredge the treacherous Oregon Inlet.

The Army Corps of Engineers is slated to receive $12.4 million to clear out problematic sand buildup at the inlet, the only sound-to-ocean passage between Hampton Roads and Hatteras Inlet, corps spokeswoman Penny Schmitt said Friday.

That's on top of the $6.5 million appropriated in the fiscal 2009 budget for annual maintenance dredging.

Slashed out by a hurricane in 1846, Oregon Inlet is regarded as one of the most dynamic and hazardous waterways on the East Coast. Shoaling, or sand buildup, where the waves break at the mouth of the inlet makes it difficult for vessels to come in or get out.

Storms, powerful currents and the southward movement of the Bodie Island spit contribute to the unpredictable navigation in the channels.

Over the years, vessels have foundered, wrecked or gotten stuck fast in the inlet. Many commercial fishermen said they go to Virginia or Beaufort rather than risk transiting the inlet. After a 30-year quest to build jetties to catch the sand was shot down in 2003, inlet users had been promised more dredging by the corps.

But until the stimulus money was provided, funding for dredging has never been enough to do what was needed, said Michael Davenport, chairman of the Dare County Oregon Inlet & Waterways Commission.

"Before, we'd be able to do the bar or the spit," he said. "We do the spit one year, then the bar would be in bad shape."

Billy Carl Tillett, a native waterman who runs Moon Tillett Fish Co. in Wanchese, said he can't remember when there was enough money provided to clean all the channels in the inlet.

"I think if they do it according to schedule and do it in the summer like they say they're going to, that's an answer to God's prayers," he said.

Bob Peele, who lobbies for Oregon Inlet for the state Department of Commerce, said that the money will cover dredging the bar, the spit and the interior channels. But best of all, he said, it will allow a 400-foot "widener" to be added along the north side of the 400-foot navigational channel. It would serve as a buffer where sand could be captured.

" That widener is something we've always dreamed of having," he said.

With regular maintenance, the widener could be dredged, allowing it to continue to trap sand before it reaches the channel. "It buys you time, basically," Peele said.

Schmitt said that she expects that Oregon Inlet will be one of the first projects that will go out to bid.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com