DESCRIPTION: This navigation asset is located on the south shore of Long Island, NY between the main body of the island and the western end of Long Beach Barrier Island, between Far Rockaway, Queens County, NY and Atlantic Beach, Nassau County, NY, about 27 miles by water southeast of the Battery, New York City; and provides for a channel, 12 feet deep, 250 feet wide, from a 12 foot depth in the Atlantic Ocean to a 12 foot depth in East Rockaway Inlet, protected by a jetty of about 4,250 feet on the east side of the channel; a 3,000 feet jetty on the west side of the channel was originally authorized, but never constructed, and deauthorized by Congress in 1977.
AUTHORIZATION: Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930 (P.L. 71-520).
COMMERCE: This asset supports commerce, including a 265-MW electric power station receiving fuel oil, and two import/export bulk product terminals (construction aggregate, recycled materials).
BACKGROUND: The channel was last maintenance dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in January 2023, when approximately 180,000 cubic yards (CY) of dredged sand was removed from the navigation channel, and beneficially used along the adjacent downdrift Rockaway Beach shoreline, west of the inlet, starting from the vicinity of Beach 27th Street, heading westward. Prior to that, the channel was maintenance dredged by USACE in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, which contributed $2.7 million to the project, in order for the 346,000 cubic yards (CY) of dredged sand removed from the inlet, and pumped further west, to be beneficially used along Rockaway Beach (between Beach 92nd to Beach 107th Streets), to replace sand lost due to heavy erosion after back-to-back nor’easters in March 2018. Prior to that, the channel was maintenance dredged by USACE in FY2017, when approximately 249,000 CY of sand was removed from the inlet channel, and beneficially used along the down drift Rockaway Beach shoreline (between Beach 27th to Beach 38th Streets). During FY2015, an east jetty rehabilitation project was completed.
STATUS: This navigation asset is currently in caretaker status. Production of an annual hydrographic channel condition survey, and publication of a controlling depth report on the District’s website (https://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/Controlling-Depth-Reports/) is scheduled for FY2024.
CONTACT:
Divyesh Patel
Asset / Project Manager
P: (917) 790-8582
Email: divyesh.g.patel@usace.army.mil
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY 10278
http://www.nan.usace.army.mil
District Area: NY # 4, # 5