Shark River Dredging Contract Awarded

The New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Office of Maritime Resources has awarded the bid to complete the long awaited Shark River and Shark River Spur Dredging Project to the low bidder, Mobile Pumping & Dredging Co., of Chester, PA. MPD’s bid of $7,649,817.50 was $1.8 million lower than the next closest bidder.

The State of New Jersey will contribute over $5 million to the project. Monmouth County will contribute $1.1 million and Neptune Township has committed $450,000.  Belmar, Neptune City and Wall Township are expected to share the remaining costs of the project, according to a statement isssued by Senator Jennifer Beck,  Freeholder Tom Arnone and Neptune Township Committeeman Randy Bishop.  Beck said the project will start this year, “if all the stars align,” and will be completed by the end of 2016.

“After over two decades, there has finally been a bid awarded to dredge Shark River. Notably, The National Marine Fisheries only allows dredging work from July 1st to December 31st, so I’m happy to see this monumental step taken forward, which, if all the stars align, will allow dredging to begin this year. None of this could have been possible without the work of Freeholder Tom Arnone and Committeeman Randy Bishop, working together in a bipartisan fashion with every state, county, and local stakeholder to make this project happen. While the State is investing more than $5 million, the project couldn’t have moved forward without the assistance of Monmouth County, which is accepting the material at its landfill and helping to fund the trucking. In addition, a number of surrounding municipalities have preliminary agreed to share in the cost of the project” said Beck.

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BECK, ANGELINI, CASAGRANDE, ARNONE & BISHOP SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON SHARK RIVER DREDGING

Press Release

photo via facebook.com/sharkrivernewjersey

Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Monmouth County Freeholder Tom Arnone, and Neptune Township Committeeman Randy Bishop offered the following statement Monday to update residents on the progress being made in the effort to dredge Shark River state navigation channels:

“This project is closer to reality than ever before. This is a result of years of work coordinating with the many agencies that have authority over this project. This project focuses on what we can do, dredge the state navigation channels of the river” Arnone explained, a former Neptune City Mayor. “A project like this has to have full cooperation from the federal, state, county, and municipal governments. It has been a long process, but one that is moving forward”.

There are two permits necessary to move forward with the project: one from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the second from the US Army Corps of Engineers. NJ DOT has submitted applications for both permits. The State hopes to bid this project in time for a late-summer project award.  If a responsive bid is received, and the selected contractor chooses, dredging could potentially begin later this year.  The contractor may be given the option to conduct the work over two dredging seasons if necessary.

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Shark River Dredging Project Will Go Out To Bid Late Summer

Bids expected in late summer.  Award anticipated in Fall of 2015

The long delayed dredging of the Shark River Channels is finally moving forward, according to a statement released today by State Senator Jennifer Beck, Freeholder Tom Arnone and Neptune Township Committeeman Randy Bishop.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Office of Maritime Resources has provided a working timeline for dredging the channels. Requests for proposals (RFP) will be released by DOT in August or September, according to Arnone, and a contract for the project is expected to be awarded in late October.

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