Dredging of Nissequogue River to Replenish Short Beach

Suffolk County Department of Public works will be awarding a bid for further dredging of the Nissequogue River's main channel as town officials plan to rebuild the Kings Park Bluffs. 

Gil Anderson, commissioner of Suffolk's Department of Public Works, said the county will award two separate bids to Port Jefferson-based Gibson & Cushman to dredge the Nissequogue River and both Stony Brook Harbor and Porquoise Channel,  Times of Smithtown reports. 

The county will award $2.09 million to dredge the Nissequogue River's main channel to the nearest public interface, along the eastern side of the river's mouth near the Kings Park Bluffs, according to Anderson. 

He estimated that roughly 90,000 cubic yards of spoil will be dredged from the Nissequogue River, deepening it by up to 7 feet, starting Oct. 1. 

The spoil will be placed on nearby Short Beach in Smithtown as beach nourishment. 

Smithtown Town officials are also pursuing grant funding to find a way to help stabilze the town's portion of the bluffs, roughly 100 feet. There is no design yet, but would likely include some type of wall according to town engineers. 

Read more on the Times of Smithtown about the changes happening along the Nissequogue River.