With a Dare and Hyde County collaboration, Miss Katie conducts maintenance dredging in Hatteras Inlet channel

The Dare County-managed Miss Katie hopper dredge conducted maintenance dredging in Sloop Channel this past week, following a collaborative effort by Hyde County, Dare County, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), and the Amry Corps of Engineers (Corps) to coordinate emergency dredging over the past few months.

An emergency dredging project was authorized by the Corps in Sloop Channel in March 2024 after months of touch-and-go transit for the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferries. The channel was cut in a straighter alignment outside of the shoaled area that is used by ferries, fishing vessels, and charter boats.

The Corps’ sidecaster dredge Merritt completed the March dredging project and returned for a few days in July, but had to depart Hatteras for another dredging project in South Carolina, so Miss Katie stepped in to maintain the channel at a usable 10-foot depth.

This most recent dredging event, which began on Tuesday, July 16, occurred through a partnership with Hyde County and Dare County.

Hyde County effectively requested the dredging to maintain the ferry channel, and is paying for the current dredging event, with funds to be reimbursed from the state’s Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund.

Dare County is serving as the pass-through agent for the permitting required to dredge, thanks to a “Dare County & Hyde County Memorandum of Agreement for Cooperative Maintenance Dredging Events” that was approved at the July Dare County Board of Commissioners meeting.

“Hyde County is using Dare’s permits to dredge,” said Barton Grover, Grants & Waterways Administrator for Dare County. “Hyde County submitted a request to the Oregon Inlet Task Force to have the Miss Katie dredge Sloop Channel, which the Task Force approved at their meeting earlier this month.”

“The Corps, NCDOT, Hyde, and Dare County are all involved, but we’re encouraged to work together so we can limit the number of permits required for dredging,” said Grover.

Miss Katie is expected to finish in Hatteras Inlet this week, but will likely return in August to conduct “touch-up” dredging as needed, particularly in the Connector Channel.

Earlier in 2024, Miss Katie removed nearly 23,000 cubic yards of material out of the Connector Channel.

“Miss Katie conducts around two dredging events in the Connector Channel each year, and the Connector Channel is doing well,” said Grover. “She’s a hopper dredge, so she can take dredge material away instead of pushing it to the side [like the Merrit] so hopefully it slows down future shoaling,”

The Oregon Inlet Task Force is responsible for scheduling Miss Katie’s dredging operations, including this most recent Hatteras Inlet event.

“The Oregon Inlet Task Force has authorized Miss Katie to dredge up to 30 days [a year] in the Connector Channel and Sloop Channel,” said Grover. “That may change in the future, but for now, it’s 30 days.”

The recent Sloop Channel dredging event is part of a multi-faceted project that has been in the works for months. Meanwhile, there are still lingering questions about dredging the Stumpy Point-Rodanthe emergency ferry route, after concerns were voiced at the Dare County Waterways Commission’s July meeting that the route would not be immediately usable in the event of a hurricane.

As Catherine Kozak reported for the Island Free Press and Coastal Review Online, the Stumpy Point-Rodanthe route has generally only been dredged in the past on an “as-needed” basis, and NCDOT is examining workaround options in case of an emergency, like a new ferry route from Hatteras to Stumpy Point.