Hamptons Inlet Dredge Contract OK'd

Federal contractors are set to dredge nearly 6 cubic miles of sand — enough to fill more than 3,000 tractor trailers — from Shinnecock and Moriches inlets and pump the sand onto East End beaches.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded the $24 million contract to Houston-based Lake Dredge and Dock Company LLC. The contract is the second that the company has won as a part of the long-sought $1.7 billion Fire Island to Montauk Point (FIMP) storm mitigation project.

“We still have a lot of work to do, but this award marks the continuation of our commitment to tackling the toughest engineering challenges in the nation,” said Col. Matthew Luzzatto, commander of ACE’s New York District.

The project has two goals: Making the inlets safe for boaters to travel without running aground and placing the sand dredged from those inlets on oceanfront beaches to build up berms eroded in prior storms.

The latest contract is the second of 11, most of which have yet to be awarded, as a part of the FIMP project that had been in the planning stages for more than half a century, was finally funded as part of the $50 billion Sandy aid package and officially kicked off in December 2021.

Sand dredged from Moriches Inlet will be placed at Smith Point County Park and sand dredged from Shinnecock Inlet will be placed on the beach west of the inlet. Sand will also be placed at bayside coastal process feature sites on both ends of the project.