This week is not only Easter weekend at the beach, it is also spring break for many schools, and the traffic, as well as gas prices, certainly reflected that uptick.
In addition to the increased holiday vehicular traffic, expect more bridge openings mornings and evenings, as the beach renourishment crews are shuttled back and forth to and from the south end dredge by large marine tugs. The size of the tugs requires a bridge opening going and coming from the current rotating crew pickup point at the North Carolina Wildlife Boat Ramp beside the drawbridge.
Look south across the water from almost any vantage point along the inland waters and the mammoth dredge operation opposite the Coast Guard station is hard to miss. Scheduled to work 24/7, the dredge, its accompanying barges and tugs light up the night sky to the south, resembling a shimmering floating city. When the wind is from the south, it can also be loud.
Weekend warriors and holy day revelers heading to and returning from Masonboro by boat will need to pass through this section of Banks Channel, not to mention the inlet, with caution. The town will maintain its strict policy of not allowing commercial passenger boat pickup from public property, which includes the uninhabited south end of the island.
The beach renourishment project is a month behind schedule. Since Hurricane Sandy hit the northern coast, dredges have been in short supply. This is the latest time of year dredging has occured at Wrightsville and it is a cause for concern when considering nesting shorebirds and turtles. Federally protected sea turtle nesting season begins May 1, less than two weeks away. Beach renourishment is supposed to be completed by then, but no one expects that to happen. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has requested an extension through May 31, but no permission has yet been granted, which could possibly result in a start-stop scenario.
Early last week as prelim work on the south end was conducted, Lumina News photographed a pair of American oystercatchers standing forlornly on a row of sand freshly turned by a bulldozer. That photo has plagued my mind all week, while at the same time, I rejoice that beach renourishment is finally underway again. Town manager Tim Owens says he also had a moment when seeing that photo, and he has jokingly claimed it was Photoshopped, but alas, he knows he is wrong.
Sand for the beach will be taken from the end of the spit at Wrightsville’s accreting south end where the bird nesting area is located, as well as dredged from Masonboro Inlet.
One only need visit the beach strand between Stone and Oxford streets to see the severity of the need for sand. To start with, there is very little beach sand remaining. At low tide the remains of 1920s-era wooden jetties are stark reminders of an earlier time when more primitive means were used in an attempt to trap sand for the beach strand.
At the top of some walkovers, the drop-offs down to the beach are 5, maybe 6 feet. Study the edge of the escarpment aka sand cliff created each night by the wave action and it becomes clear just how vital beach renourishment is to the town in terms of tourism and real property protection.
The severity of the erosion has been challenging to maintain the emergency vehicle lane; between a number of the town’s beach accesses, it is pretty tight going.
The cutter suction dredge parked on the south end is one in a fleet owned by Weeks Marine, Inc. of Cranford, N.J. Cutter suction dredges, as described on the company’s website, are barges outfitted with a rotating cutter head that excavates the bottom (mud, clay, sand and rock), feeding the dredged material to a pump system that transports the sediment via pipeline to the discharge point through a series of large pipes connected end over end, to pump the sand out onto the beach. Large bulldozers push it into place. The plan is for work to begin this weekend.
As the work progresses from south to north, beachgoers will need to navigate over the large, often gurgling pipes stretching end on end along the beach strand. Previous projects have traditionally seen crossing points over the huge pipes. Sections of the beach may be roped off as work is done.
A goal is to have pipe in place by Easter and begin pumping sand. Leading into the weekend, the contractor is scheduled to drag 720-foot-long pieces of pipe onto the beach. These pipes are at least 4 feet tall. Workers will make use of a barge coming into the ocean side beach strand, between the jetty and the Blockade Runner Beach Resort, and float the pipe off the barge, then use large and small bulldozers to connect the pipe. Pipe will be placed under the Crystal Pier, going north. The first sand is expected to come out between Arrindale Street and the Blockade Runner. Then smaller sections of pipe will be laid in 1,000-foot sections to the terminus of the project just south of the Holiday Inn.
It could make for a few novel Easter sunrise services, at least those held south of the Holiday Inn.
But the benefit to all this, turtle and bird nesting aside, is huge. In addition to protecting property, aka the tax base, very soon there will be a wide, pretty beach stand to pack wall-to-wall with parking meter paying tourists, which funds all the services those beautiful tourists require.
Ah, life at the beach in the summertime! Let the games begin!
Happy Easter y’all, He is risen!
