The sand replenishment project has finally reached Cape Story By The Sea.
The planned beach replenishment project by the Army Corps of Engineers and City of Virginia Beach experienced a major setback due to the November 2009 Nor'easter storm. Tons of existing beach sand was taken during three days of pounding. This week there has been much activity on the beach as crews haul sand from the dredge spoil site at the south end of Maple Street, to the beach access at Oak Street.
The sand is then being hauled down the beach by several large dump trucks and the spread around with bulldozers and graders.
Place cursor on photo for description.
The city plans on rebuilding the Sandalwood access ramp this Spring. Hopefully we will be back to business as usual at this wonderful beach.
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All photos property of Mark A. Moore, RE/MAX Alliance
Mark is a REALTOR specializing in residential resale and property management in Northeast Virginia Beach.
Virginia Beach Sand Replenishment:
Don't Send a Toy to Do a man's job.
Hopper dredges are ships with large hoppers, or containment areas, inside. Fitted with powerful pumps, the dredges suck dredged material from the channel bottom through long intake pipes, called drag arms, and store it in the hoppers. The water portion of the slurry is drained from the material and is discharged from the vessel during operations. When the hoppers are full, dredging stops and the ship travels to an in-water disposal site, such as near shore Virginia Beach (4th Street to 89th Street). The dredge spoils are quickly discharged through the bottom of the ship.
The vessel(s) scheduled to begin the $14 million Virginia Beach sand replenishment could obtain their sand from Lynnhaven Inlet and just offshore of Rudee Inlet. Thus killing two birds with one stone. This would entail contracting a vessel like the Congo River (look it up). The entire Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlets could be cleaned out in a matter of weeks through the use of a 30,000 cubic meter hopper dredge like the Congo River as pictured herein. In otherwords, don't send a toy to do a mans job. The use of a large hopper dredge could cut the cost of the three projects from a total of 16 million dollars down to 6 million dollars., That is 10 million dollars we would not have to borrow from the Chinese. And the giant hopper dredge aggressive cleanout of Rudee and Lynnhaven Inlets would be so extensive that these inlet cleanouts would not have to be repeated for years;
The hopper dredge could discharge its dredge spoils as close to the beach as possible . And then let Mother Nature do the rest. The prevailing tides would carry the new sediment northward and inshore. An added bonus would be a dramatic increase in zooplankton and fish populations in the surf zone. Making Virginia Beach a prime year round surf fishing destination. While simultaneously improving the outer bar vis a vis prime surfing conditions.
George Meredith MD
Virginia Beach
Congo River Trailing Suction Hopper Dredge
08 February 2011
Belgian group DEME (Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering) is a conglomerate of companies. It can look back on nearly 150 years of experience. The group is specialized in dredging for deepening and maintenance; port construction and expansion.... DEME can rely on a modern and versatile fleet consisting of 90 main vessels and around 200 auxiliary vessels. It has a permanent workforce of 4,000 persons. DEME is active worldwide: in 2010, works were executed in 50 countries on all five continents. The current investment program in high-tech material will allow DEME to face the future with an ultra-efficient and very modern fleet.
On the other hand, on 21 January 2011 DEME's new 30,000 m³ mega trailing suction hopper dredger ‘Congo River' was launched. The ‘Congo River' is an innovative and multi-functional ship, very maneuverable because of its large width (38 m) and short length (168 m) and capable of deployment for many different purposes. Even fully loaded, the vessel will have a limited draught of only 12 m. This makes the ‘Congo River' ideal for operations in ports, entrance and navigation channels, beach nourishment, all types of land reclamation, but also very suitable for long-distance transport. The ‘Congo River' can, with its deep-suction installation, dredge down to depths of over 100 meters.
Two flap-type rudders installed on the trailing suction hopper dredge Congo River are the largest in-house designed BARKE rudders thus far delivered by Van der Velden Marine Systems.
Its two BARKE rudders were designed by the Product Design Department of Van der Velden Barkemeyer GmbH.
Each has a rudder area of 30 sq.m while each flap has an area of 7.5 sq.m. Each rudder weighs about 75 tons. Both rudders can work at an angle of 45 degrees. The dredge is driven by two propellers with a 5.4 m diameter and can reach a speed of 16.6 knots.
The high level of wear and tear, caused by manoeuvring in sandy waters, is a key issue for hopper dredges. The fully enclosed housing of the original BARKE rudders reduces wear on the linkage components to a minimum while eliminating the risk of sand entry. The innovative and advanced high-lift design offers unsurpassed manoeuvring and course keeping performance. Other features are a long lifespan, a reduction of cavitation to an absolute minimum, noise and vibration-free operation, high propulsion efficiency and low fuel consumption.
CONGO RIVER Congo River will be commissioned in mid-2011. Due to her wide beam (38 m) and short length (168 m), this innovative and versatile vessel has excellent manoeuvrability and can be used for many purposes. When fully loaded, Congo River has a low draft (12 m), enhancing her working efficiently in harbours and fairways, on beach repletion and land reclamation projects, and with long-distance transportation. Fitted with a deep suction dredging installation, the vessel has a maximum dredging depth of over 100 meters.
4,700 m3 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger
This Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger is equipped with two (2) trailing pipes, bottom doors and pump ashore installation. It was built in 1973 in Holland and its Classification Society is BV (Bureau Veritas). Its next Special Survey is due on 03/2013 and its last Dry Dock was in 01/2011.
Located in The Netherlands
Price for Dredger: USD $ 8,165,000
George Meredith MD
Virginia Beach
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Resort Beach Replenishment is a Go!
05/18/11
Resort Beach Replenishment is a Go!
Army Corps of Engineers Allots $9M for Project
The resort beach is about to get a lot bigger, for the first time since 2002.
On Tuesday, the Army Corps of Engineers delivered good news to Virginia Beach. The corps included $6.8 million to replenish the Virginia Beach resort beach in its list of fiscal 2011 civil works projects. The corps previously allocated $2.2 million to the project. That brings the total federal allocation for the hurricane protection project to $9 million.
That was the final funding action that Virginia Beach needed to move ahead with the needed beach replenishment. The city has already allocated $5 million for its share of the project, The total cost will be about $14 million.
Work probably will begin within a year.
"This is tremendous news, especially as we head into hurricane season," said Mayor William D. Sessoms, Jr. "We've been waiting a long time to get this project going."
Nine years have passed since Operation Big Beach, the last major replenishment project at the resort. That project put 4 million cubic yards of new sand on the resort beach, tripling the width of the strand to 300 feet and providing additional storm protection to $3 billion worth of homes and businesses from Rudee Inlet to Fort Story. Since then, northeasters and other storms have eroded the beach to the point where it now requires new sand. Until now, federal funding for this next round of replenishment has been uncertain.
The corps also has included funding for three more important shoreline projects in Virginia Beach:
•· Lynnhaven Inlet dredging -- $287,990. This will allow periodic visits by an Army Corps dredge to keep the channel clear. This is critical to pilots stationed near the Lesner Bridge, who guide ships through Hampton Roads every day.
•· Rudee Inlet dredging -- $515,516. This will pay for periodic visits by the Army Corps dredge until the next major scheduled dredging in fiscal 2012.
•· Lynnhaven Inlet study - $50,000. This will partially fund a study to determine whether jetties should be built at Lynnhaven Inlet, to help maintain the channel there and to prevent sand from drifting off the nearby beaches. The study will start before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
Mayor Sessoms thanked the city's entire congressional delegation in Washington for helping to secure the resort funding. He especially thanked U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb, who were critical in obtaining fiscal 2011 committee funding for the project, which made it eligible for consideration in this year's funding. He also singled out U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell, who made the project a top priority for his office and urged the assistant secretary of the Army Corps of Engineers to include funding for it.
For more information on these projects, contact Phillip J. Roehrs, the city's water resources engineer, at (757) 385-8985 or PRoehrs@vbgov.com.
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News Release: VBgov.com/Info
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Virginia Beach Sand Replenishment Could be Done for Much Less
Colonel David Hansen's Record Speaks for Itself
Hopper dredges are ships with large hoppers, or containment areas, inside. Fitted with powerful pumps, the dredges suck dredged material from the channel bottom through long intake pipes, called drag arms, and store it in the hoppers. The water portion of the slurry is drained from the material and is discharged from the vessel during operations. When the hoppers are full, dredging stops and the ship travels to an in-water disposal site, such as near shore Virginia Beach (4th Street to 89th Street). The dredge spoils are quickly discharged through the bottom of the ship.
The vessel(s) scheduled to begin the $17 million Virginia Beach sand replenishment could obtain their sand from Lynnhaven Inlet and just offshore of Rudee Inlet. Thus killing two birds with one stone. This would entail contracting a very large trailing arm hopper dredge like the Congo River (look it up). The fact is entire Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlets could be cleaned out in a matter of weeks through the use of a 30,000 cubic meter hopper dredge like the Congo River.
By way of example, the little hopper dredge Currituck, that apparently is doing a credible job in Oregon Inlet, has a capacity of only 300 cubic meters. Imagine what a large hopper dredge like the Congo River could do for our frequently shoaled inlets. Expensive rip rap jetties will, I predict, will become a thing of the past as more large trailing arm hopper dredges are placed into service. And thus requiring fewer West Virginia mountain tops to be blasted away (strip mining byproducts).
In other words, don't send a toy to do a man's job. The use of a large hopper dredge could cut the cost of the three projects from a total of 17 million dollars down to 6 million dollars. That is 11 million dollars we would not have to borrow from the Red Chinese. And the giant hopper dredge aggressive cleanout of Rudee and Lynnhaven Inlets would be so extensive that these inlet cleanouts would not have to be repeated for years;
The hopper dredge could discharge its dredge spoils as close to the beach as possible. And then let Mother Nature do the rest. The prevailing tides would carry the new sediment northward and inshore along the oceanfront. A similar plan could be employed for Chick's Beach and Chesapeake Beach, depending on prevailing tides. An added bonus would be a dramatic increase in zooplankton and fish populations in the new surf zones. Making Virginia Beach a prime year round surf fishing destination. While simultaneously improving the outer bar vis a vis prime surfing conditions.
Listen! The don who arranges and oversees all Virginia Beach dredging projects is Virginia Beach Deputy City Manager Colonel David Hansen. Hansen is a retired US Army Corps of Engineers waterway designer. Study what Colonel Hansen et al did to the Red River in Louisiana. Hansen and his fellow USACE engineers blew $2.1 billion dollars on a waterway, complete with 5 locks, for grain barge traffic. The Red River Waterway. And now the barges won't use Hansen's Red River Waterway because it is too slow...$2.1 billion dollars!!! Read the book that Pulitzer Prize winner and Time Magazine writer, Michael Grunewald wrote about Hansen et al and all the beautiful rivers that they destroyed just to suck up to some good ol' boys. "Cry Me a River"
Hansen never even mentioned the use of very large hopper dredges for the above listed projects. No wonder we have to yearly dredge these inlets. No wonder our storm water bills are so high. No wonder America is bankrupt!
George Meredith MD
Virginia Beach