Lake Worth Inlet Dredging Design

Cummins Cederberg provided marine engineering and environmental consulting services for the Lake Worth Inlet Flood Shoal Dredging Project, located adjacent to the Port of Palm Beach, Peanut Island Park, and the Lake Worth Inlet. The project consists of dredging a portion of the eastern perimeter and a center cut through the shoal to increase navigation and safety. The center cut will restore sediment deposition capacity in areas where sediment has historically deposited. As an additional benefit, it will increase access to the interior of the shoal and help reduce vessel density along the eastern and northern perimeters improving navigation and safety in the marked channels. The center cut will also improve access to law enforcement and first responders. The dredge material will be placed at the Tarpon Cover Restoration site, just south of the inlet, or a similar site. Responsibilities are bathymetric survey, current measurements, marine resource survey support, preparation of engineering plans, environmental permit application preparation and processing with the FDEP and the USACE, coordination and participation in public stakeholder meetings, and coastal engineering analysis.

The bathymetric survey and current data were used for coastal engineering design and numerical modeling. To better understand the dynamics of the flood shoal and evaluate effects post-dredging, a detailed coastal engineering analysis was performed. The components that were evaluated were general coastal processes (waves and tidal hydrodynamic), sediment characteristics, sediment transport patterns, infilling time and anticipated dredge frequency, and impact to the Intracoastal Waterway west of the flood shoal based on cross-sectional profile and potential slope adjustments as well as anticipated sand movement and deposition.