CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS: NJ-2
AUTHORITY: The existing project adopted as HD 59-644 in 1910 and modified as HD 73-275 in 1935
APPROPRIATION / PHASE: Operation & Maintenance, General
BUSINESS PROGRAM: Navigation
DESCRIPTION: This project provides for a channel 7 feet deep and 150 feet wide in Delaware Bay across Maurice Cove to the mouth; thence a channel 7 feet deep, 100 feet wide to the fixed bridge at Millville, 21.5 miles above the mouth, and then 60 feet wide to the mill dam, a further distance of one-half mile, including a turning basin 7 feet deep at Millville. The total length of the section included in the project is about 24 miles. The extreme tide range is from about 1 foot below mean low water to about 1 foot above mean high water. The Maurice River supports local fishing, the oyster industry and ship repair industries. The shipyards perform repairs on Federally owned assets including USACE and US Coast Guard vessels, which serve the greater Philadelphia Port Complex.
COMMENTS: The last time this channel was dredged, material was barged to and placed in the USACE Cape May Confined Disposal Facility on the Cape May Canal. Beneficial use placement using dredged material is under investigation to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of the maintenance dredging project, while also building coastal resilience for a highly eroded region of the Delaware Bay shoreline. USACE is collaborating with the State of NJ and other partners on these efforts along with other beneficial use placement projects within the State. Lessons learned at other projects are being applied along with Regional Sediment Management and Engineering with Nature principles to develop a more efficient concept for placement of the fine-grained Maurice River channel sediments. These efforts will benefit both the navigation stakeholders and objectives to restore marsh by the State and locals.
PROJECT GOALS: The purpose of this project provides for maintenance dredging to authorized 7 foot depth.
PROJECT MANAGER: Monica A. Chasten