Maintenance Dredging of Fire Island Inlet and Shores Westerly to Jones Inlet, New York Beach Erosion Control and Navigation Project

The New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) proposes to perform maintenance dredging and beach nourishment of Fire Island Inlet and Shores Westerly to Jones Inlet Beach Erosion Control and Navigation Project, New York. The work consists of dredging the Fire Island Inlet Federal Navigation channel and deposition basin with subsequent placement of the dredged sand as nourishment along the designated feeder beach (Gilgo Beach, Suffolk County, New York).

The proposed dredging and beach nourishment work would involve dredging and placement of up to 2,500,000 CY of sand at Gilgo Beach, subject to available funding. The project is scheduled to be dredged across the channel and deposition basins to a depth of up to 14 feet plus 2 feet allowable over-depth, in order to satisfy the volume required to renourish the Gilgo Beach. The proposed work is a multi-purpose project that provides both a navigation channel and coastal storm risk management features.

The project will alleviate the effects of shoaling and maintain the authorized project dimensions, thereby providing safe and economical use of the Fire Island Inlet by commercial and recreational boating interests while also providing renourishment to the nearby shoreline at Gilgo Beach. Between maintenance operations, the physically bypassed sand placed at the feeder beach would be carried by littoral drift to feed down drift beaches.

This project would thus serve to place sand trapped in the channel back into the normal littoral movement that naturally replenishes the western beaches and protect Ocean Parkway, while also restoring a safe channel for navigation. The proposed work can be accomplished by large pipeline dredge and must meet US Coast Guard criteria for an “ocean going vessel”.

The Contractor will be required to commence work within five (5) calendar days after the date of receipt by him of the notice to proceed, and to prosecute said work diligently and to complete the basic work ready for use not later than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days after the receipt by him of the notice to proceed (NTP). The contractor is required to maintain a placement production rate of at least 14,500 cubic yards per calendar day. The work is estimated to cost between $25,000,000 and $100,000,000.

Plans and specifications for the subject project would be available in June 2026, with bid opening in July 2026. It is the intention of the government to award in August and NTP in late September. Liquidated Damages of $2,770.00 per calendar day of delay will be assessed to the contractor until all work under the contract is accepted as complete. This is an unrestricted Procurement.