Dredging project on NC Outer Banks getting closer

SOUTHERN SHORES, N.C. — A canal dredging project on North Carolina’s Outer Banks is almost ready to start, five years after the town of Southern Shores first tried to get the project off the ground.

The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk reported that the seven miles of canals haven’t been dredged in decades. Muck and fallen branches have clogged them.

Two previous attempts failed because the town doesn’t have enough land to dump the dredged material and residents didn’t want it in their neighborhoods. Some who had agreed to take the material changed their minds.

Town manager Charles Read says he’s confident the canals will be dredged because the town has secured signed contracts with two private property owners who will let the spoil be dumped on their land.

The town plans to put the first phase of the project up for bid by next month.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)