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2. United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
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4. Jacksonville District
5. Environmental Documents

Title:	Environmental Assessment on Maintenance Dredging Port Everglades Entrance Channel, Broward County, Florida
Authors:	United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Jacksonville District.
Keywords:	Dredging Environmental impact analysis Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Publisher:	United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Jacksonville District.
Abstract:	The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Jacksonville District, proposes to continue conducting routine maintenance dredging of the Port Everglades Entrance Channel, Broward County, Florida (see Figure 1, Plan View and Location Map). Approximately 100,000 cubic yards of sediment, resulting from shoaling, will be removed from the harbor’s entrance channel. As part of its navigation mandate, the Corps conducts annual surveys of the Federal Navigation channel. During the 2002 survey, it was determined that sediment being transported around the north jetty is shoaling in the Entrance Channel and currently has encroached into 25% of the channel’s width (Figure 2), thus increasing navigation difficulty and decreasing vessel safety while entering and leaving the Port. The Corps had originally planned to conduct this dredging as part of the planned Port Everglades expansion currently being studied by the Jacksonville district under the Port Everglades Feasibility Study. Due to study delays, the proposed expansion of the Port may not be initiated until 2005 or 2006. The Port pilots have noted a change in channel depths on the north side of the channel near the end of the jetty. Based on the 2002-channel survey conducted by the Jacksonville District, the shoal is 600 feet in length and approximately 120 feet in width. The channel is authorized to a depth of - 45ft + 2 additional feet of overdepth. The north side of the channel currently has a controlling depth of –24.6 ft mean lower low water. The Corps approached Broward County to determine if they have an interest in utilizing the beach quality sediment as part of the Shore Protection Project (SPP) recently initiated by the county. The county has expressed an interest in utilizing the sediment in lieu of sediment that will be dredged from offshore borrow areas identified in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Broward County Shore Protection Project completed in April, 2002. The Final EIS will be completed in late 2003 or early 2004. Utilization of this beach-quality sediment by the county will reduce the amount of sediment that must be dredged from offshore borrow areas, thus reducing the impacts to those borrow areas, and the surrounding coral reef environments. In the Broward County SPP DEIS, the Corps and County state that various types of dredging equipment, possibly including a hopper dredge, will be used to accomplish the above task of dredging from the offshore borrow sites. The Corps would also likely utilize a hopper dredge to remove the shoal material in the entrance channel. Excavated material consisting of suitable sand may be placed on the John U. Lloyd Beach State Park, part of segment III of the SPP. Dredging the entrance channel also serves the navigational needs of vessels utilizing Port Everglades. Should the county choose to utilize the sediments in the Entrance channel, the costs associated with the dredging will be incurred as part of the Shore Protection Project. If the County opts not to dredge the Entrance channel, the Corps will be initiating an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) event with Federal O&M funding.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/11681/26035
Appears in Collections:	Environmental Documents