Inlet Relocation
In New Hanover County, North Carolina, the Mason Inlet, which separated Figure Eight Island from Wrightsville Beach, had migrated over a half-mile south and threatened property on Wrightsville Beach, only a thin line of sandbags and tubes holding the inlet back from Shell Island Resort.
Objectives:
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relocate the inlet to its previous location, 3,000 feet to the north. |
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improve water quality via increased flushing of the Intracoastal Waterway and other inland waters; |
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provide sand to renourish the 10,000 feet of Figure Eight Beach recreation area. |
Obstacles:
Dredging could only be done between November 15 and March 31, a deadline set by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect nesting sea turtles. Southwind Construction was able to begin construction December 27, 2001.
Operations & Results:
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Southwind first erected 7-foot sand “geotubes” on a sand spit for a 700- by 250-foot stockpile area to hold 260,000 cubic yards of sand. This sand was dredged from the New Mason Inlet and would be used to fill in the old inlet. |
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A second dredge sprayed sand from the new inlet channel directly onto Figure Eight Island’s beach to rebuild 10,000 feet of eroded beach |
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By mid-March, two "plugs" were removed; one “plug” between the Atlantic Ocean and Mason Creek, the other “plug” between Mason Creek and the Intracoastal Waterway. This formed the New Mason Inlet. |
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March 20, Southwind bulldozed sand from the stockpile area into the old inlet, filling the channel. |
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Project successfully completed March 31 |
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