Y--Maintenance Dredging Little Narragansett Bay; Stonington, CT and Westerly, RI

The Pawcatuck River, Little Narragansett Bay, and Watch Hill Cove FNP was originally authorized by the River & Harbor Act of 1896, and further modified in 1905, 1945, and 1960. The Congressionally authorized Federal Navigation Project (FNP) provides for a 10-foot-deep Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) channel, 100-foot wide from Stonington Point through Little Narragansett Bay to Avondale, a length of about 3 miles, to the lower Wharfs in Westerly, a length of about 4 miles, and then 40-foot-wide between lower and upper wharves of Westerly to 7- foot-deep; a 10-foot-deep channel, 100 foot wide, from the mouth of the river into Watch Hill Cove; a 16-acre anchorage basin in the Cove, 10-foot deep; a 200-foot long riprap jetty near the southwest corner of the basin.The proposed project involves maintenance dredging of the Congressionally-authorized Federal Navigation Project (FNP) in Little Narragansett Bay, Westerly, RI and Stonington, CT. Approximately 60,000 cubic yards of sandy material will be dredged from the channel and placed onto Sandy Point Island. A hydraulic cutter head dredge will remove sandy material from the shoaled portions of the Little Narragansett Bay Federal Navigation Channel and pump it onto the island where it will be graded. Placement on the island will include a maximum elevation of 7.5 feet above MLLW and a 1 foot vertical to 10 foot horizontal slope extending from the center portion of the island into the intertidal zone. Some clearing and grubbing of the Island will be necessary before initiating grading activities but the Island is only sparsely vegetated. Dredging operations, including placement of dredged material on the island and final grading, are anticipated to take approximately 8 to 12 weeks and be completed during the dredge window of October 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015.