St. Lucie County to Dredge Taylor Creek
St. Lucie County, FL (treasurecoast.com) – St. Lucie County will begin dredging Taylor Creek in early August to help boaters better navigate the channel and remove unwanted silt and muck from the bottom of the waterway.
This $2.7 million project is entirely funded through grants from the South Florida Water Management District, Florida Inland Navigation District and a Legislative appropriation administered through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Crews expect to remove roughly 76,000 cubic yards of muck sediments from the FEC Railroad Bridge to the Intracoastal Waterway channel. The dredge spoil material will be dried and placed adjacent to the St. Lucie County’s dredging spoil site on the Treasure Coast International Airport property. Once it is dried out, the spoil site will be emptied for future re-use.
Roughly seven feet of muck has built up in the navigation channel since it was last dredged in July 2004. The removal of muck sediments will restore safe navigation within the Taylor Creek basin and contribute to the overall health of the Indian River Lagoon, by improving water quality and clarity.
Mobilization for this project is scheduled to start Monday, July 12 with the actually work taking place in early August and lasting nine to 12 months. Hydraulic dredging will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week, weather permitting. Once the dredging is completed, the spoil material management will be done during regular work hours. No dredging will take place between Nov. 15 and March 31, 2022 to comply with manatee migration patterns.
The engineer for the project is Dredging & Marine Consultants with Gator Dredging serving as the main contractor.
Additionally, St. Lucie County’s Public Works staff is collaborating with the Environmental Resources Department to relocate roughly 60-80 gopher tortoise burrows that have taken up residency inside the upland spoil storage site. St. Lucie County has a state-approved gopher tortoise relocation site and in-house staff certified to perform these relocation efforts.
