Major dredging project planned for IR Inlet

In response to growing concerns over the possible loss of infrastructure and the actual loss of beach, the state has proposed a dredging project that would restore about one mile of the berm and dune system to the beach immediately north of the Indian River Inlet. The state is also planning to add metal sheets to further protect Route 1. 

Twice since March storm-related winds and high tides have pushed ocean waters over the dune and into the northbound lanes of Route 1. In both occasions, the northbound lanes were closed for hours, forcing vehicles heading north to drive all the way around Indian and Rehoboth bays.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control issued a public notice Sept. 11, saying its Division of Watershed Stewardship is proposing to utilize a U.S. Army Corp of Engineers permit to hydraulically dredge up to 550,000 cubic yards of material that would be placed on the beach immediately north of the inlet. 

DNREC will hold a community information session to provide the history of efforts to maintain the inlet beach area, details about the emergency replenishment work that will happen this winter and long-term plans from 5 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 24, at Bethany Beach Town Hall.

The Sept. 11 public notice said the project will begin at the north jetty and extend northward for about 5,200 linear feet. Work is expected to begin in November. 

The sand would come from three potential borrow sites – the Indian River Inlet Flood Shoal, the Middle Island Shoal and the Burton Island Shoal – and the dredged material will be transported by pipeline, said the notice.

Micheal Globetti, DNREC spokesperson, said the sand being harvested during this project comes from an area that naturally recharges the beach with sand, replenishing that area through tide cycles. The sand can be slow to return, but it naturally accumulates in the location due to tidal sand transport, he said.

In terms of scale, the proposed amount of sand for this project is significant. For example, it's more than the combined amount that Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach had pumped ashore during a beach replenishment project in the spring of 2023. About 500,000 cubic yards of sand was pumped – 300,000 in Rehoboth and 200,000 in Dewey.

Delaware Department of Transportation Secretary Nicole Majeski said Route 1 is an important roadway for travel in Sussex County. 

“Delaware Route 1 is critical for daily travel and for emergency vehicle access in the area, so additional steps are merited to protect it,” she said in a press release. “These measures are necessary to maintain the roadway's daily operation and hopefully avoid timely and costly repairs from potential breaches.”

DNREC has been actively adding sand to the north beach since the last breach. Globetti said this work is not part of the dredging project, and the recent public notice is for a much larger dredging project in the future.

The sand for the current project is harvested from the south side of the inlet and transported by truck to the north side to supplement and help rebuild the eroded beach and dune there. The current DNREC project is operating in a manner similar to how the sand bypass plant on the south side, currently out of commission, would ordinarily operate. 

DNREC is harvesting material from the same work zone where the sand bypass plant captures it, said Globetti.

This won’t be the first time the inlet has been dredged for this purpose.

According to a report prepared in August by DNREC, from 1957 to 1990, more than 2 million cubic yards of sand was dredged from the inlet’s interior to maintain the federal navigation channel and to obtain beach fill for the eroding shoreline north of the inlet.

A sand bypass system that pumps sand from south of the inlet to north side became operational in 1990 and dredging the inlet has only been used minimally since. In 2010, scour holes near the U.S. Coast Guard facility on the banks of the inlet were filled. In 2013, following Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the Army Corps of Engineers pumped more than 500,000 cubic yards of sand to rebuild the beach.

The sand bypass system helped mitigate erosion at the north beach, but that system stopped working in 2020. Since then, DNREC has been adding sand by truck.

Another document included with the public notice is a special permit application to the Army Corps. It says construction is expected to take place through March 2025.

On the inlet side of the bridge, the Army Corps has been working on a year-long project since late spring to rebuild the walkway under the bridge that’s been closed since 2018. Part of that project includes the removal of the concrete foundation on the north beach that served an old Coast Guard antenna.

It’s unclear if that structure will be removed before the dredging project begins.

The Army Corps is still working through the specifics on that issue, said Steve Rochette, Army Corps spokesperson, in an email Sept. 12.

Editor’s note: The date for the town hall on this in Bethany Beach has been corrected.