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State rebids Massey’s Ditch maintenance project

Changes made to proposal after first attempt garnered poor response
May 7, 2019

Story Location:
Massey’s Ditch
Long Neck, DE 19966
United States

After not receiving an acceptable bid the first time around, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has reissued a request for proposals for the Massey’s Ditch maintenance dredging project.

DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section issued the request for proposals to remove 100,000 cubic yards of sand April 30, with a Friday, May 31 deadline to submit proposals. The original request was posted Jan. 2. After the deadline to submit passed Jan. 30, the state announced in early Febuary the project would be rebid because an acceptable bid was not received.

According to a permit issued in November to the DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship from the DNREC Wetlands and Subaqueous Lands Section, the material to be dredged – 50,000 cubic yards from Massey’s Ditch and 50,000 cubic yards in the channel near Lynch Thicket and Middle Island – will be placed on the Atlantic Ocean beach north of Indian River Inlet.

DNREC spokesman Michael Globetti said there have been several changes from the first request to the second. He said the amount of time the contractor will have to complete the project was lengthened from one month to four months. He said the change still complies with time-of-year dredging restrictions. Due to concerns for summer flounder, migratory shorebirds and ground-nesting marsh birds, the state’s permit restricts dredging activity from March 1 through Sept. 30.

Globetti said DNREC is giving contractors far more lead time between the bidding deadline and the construction period, which will be from Nov. 1, 2019 through March 1, 2020.

Finally, Globetti said, while the sand discharge area remains the shoreline north of Indian River Inlet, the contractor for the project will be allowed more flexibility in pipeline routes to pump the dredged material.

The section is coordinating these possible pipeline routes with DNREC’s Divisions of Parks & Recreation and Fish & Wildlife to minimize the project's impacts on recreational boating and beach activities.

The 100,000-cubic-yard project almost equals the total amount dredged from Massey’s Ditch since the channel was completed in 1957. According to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public notice in October, the federal government dredged 39,000 cubic yards in 1980, while DNREC dredged 10,000 cubic yards in 1987, 15,000 cubic yards in 1990, 7,000 cubic yards in 1991 and 30,000 cubic yards in 2002.

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