Snow’s Cut set for major repairs amid erosion risks
NEW HANOVER, NC (WWAY) — Escarpments, or sea cliffs, scar the sides of the Snow’s Cut inlet.
Pieces of rock and dirt dot the beaches. It’s not only unsightly, it’s dangerous.
Wakes from heavy boat traffic and tidal surges have erased part of the shoreline, exposing trees and rocks.
The waterway, that connects the Cape Fear River with the Intracoastal Waterway, was built in the late 1920’s and is showing its age.
“There’s basically four reaches that we’re looking at on Snow’s Cut which are all west of 421. We’re looking at the areas that have kind of the highest risk of erosion,” says Connolly.
Dave Connolly is the Chief of Public Affairs at the US Army Corp of Engineers Wilmington District.
He says Snow’s Cut will be getting an extreme makeover.
It will include a combination of dredging and replacing parts of the eroded shoreline with rocks.
“The mitigation strategies that we’re looking at for those mostly involve…one three of those reaches is for tow revetment, which is commonly people know it as rip rap, and one of the areas could possibly use an artificial reef,” said Connolly.
Money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help fund the 15-million-dollar project, and Connolly says the funding is important to note.
“Designed plans in order to mitigate that risk. Now, all of this work is subject to the availability of funds, so if we don’t have the funding available for all four of those reaches, we’ll prioritize with the highest risk areas and work those first,” said Connolly.