Dredging In The Nissequogue Set To Begin This Week

Dredging in the Nissequogue River is scheduled to begin this week. Earlier in September, Town Board members in a 4-0 vote (Councilman McCarthy was absent)  granted the necessary approvals to Suffolk County’s Department of Public Works allowing them to commence with the necessary dredging. 

The dredging will begin in the Nissequogue on October 1 and finish in Stony Brook Harbor and Porpoise Channel at the end of March 2014. 

According to Department of Environment and Waterways Director Russ Barnett,Russ Barnettdredging will take place in the existing navigation channel located in the Nissequogue River and the adjacent area of the Long Island Sound. The channel will be dredged to a depth of six feet. “We’re very pleased that we have been able to successfully work with Suffolk County to get both channel systems dredged this winter. It’s a tremendous investment in favor of Smithtown residents” said Barnett. 

On July 30, 2013 the Suffolk County Legislature approved funding for the Nissequogue dredging project set to cost approximately $2.1 million. The contract was awarded by the County to Gibson & Cushman. The last dredging project in the channel began in 2008 with activities completed in January of 2009. Gibson & Cushman took over the 2008/09 dredging project after Possillico, who won the bid, ran into some difficulties and was unable to complete the project.

According to Smithtown’s Environmental Director Russ Barnett, Gibson & Cushman are experienced in dredging in Smithtown, having worked  on the 2008/09 dredging project. People were pleased with the way they handled the removal of approximately 90,000 cubic yards of material and moved it to Sunken Meadow.

The channel has experienced a build up of sand due to the two major storms that hit our area over the past two years.  Approximately 93,000 cubic yards of material will be removed from the channel and deposited on Short Beach to be used for beach nourishment. The main differences between this project and the previous dredging done in the area is the amount of yardage being removed and the relocation of the material to Short Beach.