2011 sees a second dredging project for the Popponesset Bay
The 1916 channel project was completed in January, 2011 and you can tell by walking on the Spit how much wider the Spit has become. Boaters will surely be able to tell the difference once out on the water.
Dredging of the outer channel was completed by Wayne Jaedtke and the County Dredge this past week. There was some ice in the Bay this year after the cold snaps in January, but there was no ice to impede the operation by mid-March. The project, to deepen the channel from the Popponesset Bay out to Vineyard Sound, had only one day of really bad weather during the 10 days in the Bay. This dredging project extracted sand from the channel that has drifted eastward from the Spit and other areas replenished by New Seabury.
| The County Dredge was stored in the Bay at the end of each day. Photo by Lily Smith |
More sand was pumped onto the Spit and graded, enhancing the barrier beach that protects the Bay and east-facing homes on Popponesset Island from storms and waves. Now, as April begins and the weather improves, the weather will warm up and we'll all see the benefit of these two big dredging projects this winter.
| Sand pumped out onto the Spit. It looks better after it dries...Photo by Lily Smith |
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| The dredge pipe will be removed from the Spit in a few weeks when the County Dredge does another local operation. Photo by Lily Smith |
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Mashpee Waterways Commission
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Thanks to Ken Bates and the Mashpee Waterways Commission for organizing and authorizing the outer channel dredging project. Thanks also to Wayne Jaedtke and the County Dredge team for the dredging and the grading of the sand on the Spit afterwards.
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