Navesink, Shrewsbury rivers will get $26M dredging as risks of running aground grow

The Navesink and Shrewsbury river channels will get dredged next year in a $26 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineer maintenance project.

The Corps will dredge the entrance of the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers at Sandy Hook as well as the Navesink River to the Route 35 Bridge in Red Bank and the Shrewsbury River as far as the Branchport Avenue Bridge in Long Branch, said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who announced the project on Wednesday.

The total distance of the dredge work is 14 miles.

Pallone, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the funding for dredge work comes out of the House's Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development spending bill for next year's budget.

The channels, which are federally maintained, are critical to the recreational boating and fishing industries to navigate on the rivers, and the overall health of the rivers which are already stressed from pollution and flooding.

See the above video about water testing on the rivers. 

“Our residents have been very concerned and vocal about this issue because the Shrewsbury River's health directly impacts all of Oceanport and the surrounding communities," said Oceanport Mayor Jay Coffey, in a prepared statement on the project. 

Steve Remaley, owner of Red Bank Marina, told the press the channel water levels are low, but so is the muck bottom outside the channels. He would like to see future dredging done outside of the channels.

Environment: Disastrous flooding, pollution threaten Navesink, Shrewsbury rivers

Capt. Dan Schade, who runs river cruises on his two boats the Mariner and the paddlewheel Navesink Queen, said he can't go past the Oceanic Bridge on a low tide due to sandbars in the channel.

"The only time you can do it is on a high tide or you risk running aground. This good news that they're dredging it," Schade said.

“The economic and recreational impact of the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers cannot be underestimated for Middletown and its the surrounding municipalities,” said Middletown Mayor Tony Perry in a prepared statement.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Navesink, Shrewsbury rivers will get dredged in $26M federal project