UPDATE: Nourishment project getsunderway as beachgoers watch
Visitors on the beach in northern Rodanthe — even those who are used to seeing vehicles on the sand — were probably startled to see this vehicle working in the surf on Monday, July 14.
No need to worry. It was just another CRAB on the beach.
The big contraption, sitting on three tall legs, with an operator on a platform at the top and huge tires, belongs to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., the contractor on the $20.3 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beach nourishment project in northern Rodanthe and at the S-curves.
The vehicle is called a Coastal Research Amphibious Buggy, or CRAB, and is one of three that Great Lakes owns.
On Monday, it was mapping elevations on the beach as part of the nourishment project, and the photo was taken by Bradley S. Payne from the deck of a neighbor’s house in Mirlo Beach.
The purpose of the project is to protect a vulnerable stretch of Highway 12 from damage from ocean overwash and storm tides.
Preliminary work was expected to be completed this week and installation of the pipeline from the sand source in the ocean onto the beach was to begin. The first dredge was scheduled to arrived yesterday and the second one will arrive around the first week in August.
Weather permitting, the project could be complete by mid-September.
