DESCRIPTION: This navigation asset is located on the south shore of Long Island in Kings (Brooklyn) and Queens Counties, NY, north and west of Rockaway Beach, Queens, NY, with the Rockaway Inlet entrance channel located about 17 miles by water southeast of the Battery, New York County, NY. This navigation asset consists of an interior channel extending from vicinity of the Marine Parkway Bridge along the west and north shores of Jamaica Bay, 18 feet deep at Mean Low Water (MLW) and 300 feet wide to Mill Basin, with a swinging basin 1,000 feet wide and 1,000 feet long at that point; thence 12 feet deep and 200 feet wide to Fresh Creek Basin; an interior channel extending from the same locality along south shore to Head of Bay, 15 feet deep and 200 feet wide, extending from the channel along the south shore, 3,000 feet to junction of the two branches, thence 2,200 feet in north branch (Inwood Creek) and 3,200 feet in the south branch (Mott Basin); and an entrance channel connecting the two interior channels with deep water in Atlantic Ocean, of suitable hydraulic dimensions to maintain present tidal prism in the bay, but not less than 18 feet deep and 500 feet wide from opposite Barren Island to Rockaway Point; thence enlarging to not less than 20 feet deep and 1,000 feet wide to the sea, protected by one riprap jetty. This asset contains about 19.5 miles of navigation channels.
AUTHORIZATION: Rivers and Harbors Acts of 1910 (P.L. 61-264), modified in 1945 (P.L. 79-14) and 1950 (P.L. 81-516).
COMMERCE: In 2023, the annual commercial freight traffic reported for this this navigation asset was approximately 701 thousand short tons, and consisted of chemicals (alcohols), crude materials (sand, soil, rock, stones & gravel), machinery, and petroleum & petroleum products (gasoline, fuel oils) (2023 Waterborne Commerce of the U.S. report).
BACKGROUND: The Rockaway Inlet Entrance Channel of Jamaica Bay, NY was last maintenance dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, when approximately 417,000 cubic yards (CYs) of dredged sand was removed and beneficially used as Remediation Material at the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS) in the Atlantic Ocean. Prior to that, the entrance channel was maintenance dredged in FY2009, when approximately 533,000 CYs of dredged sand was removed and placed at the HARS (383,000 CYs) and White Island, Brooklyn, NY in Jamaica Bay (150,000 CYs). Prior to that, the entrance channel was maintenance dredged in FY2005, when approximately 183,000 CY of dredged sand was removed and stockpiled at the U.S. National Parks Service’s Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY.
STATUS: In FY2026, commonly performed Operations & Maintenance (O&M) work includes preliminary engineering & design and coordination to identify the most practicable and available beneficial use for the ongoing accumulation of sand shoals within the Rockaway Inlet Entrance Channel for future maintenance dredging (subject to funds availability). Production of an annual hydrographic channel condition survey, and publication of a controlling depth report on the district’s website (below) is scheduled for FY2026.
(https://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/Controlling-Depth-Reports/)
CONTACT:
William T. Bruno
Asset / Project Manager
P: (917) 790-8516
Email: William.Bruno@usace.army.mil
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY 10278
District Area: NY # 5 & 8