Wells Harbor Dredge Update

The long-anticipated dredge of Wells Harbor will be taking place over the coming weeks. The Army Corps of Engineers will be dredging the Federal channel and anchorage, while the Town of Wells will be responsible for areas on the East and West side of the Harbor. The sand from the dredge will be placed on Drake’s Island as a beach nourishment project to widen the beach and help protect waterfront infrastructure from storm damage. Wells Harbor was last dredged in 2013.

Michels Construction has been awarded the dredging contract for the Wells Federal Navigation Project.  As you may have seen, over the past week, Michels Construction began to fence off portions of the Eastern shore and Drake’s Island parking lots. 

Michels Construction will be fusing pipe in the Drakes Island Jetty lot all this coming weekend. The lot will be closed to the public during this operation.

Below is the most updated schedule for the coming dredge

• Starting Monday, January 8th, several pieces of equipment will be arriving via tractor trailer truck. A fuel cube will arrive at the small Drake’s Island parking lot at the end of Drake’s Island Road. This lot will be closed for the duration of the dredge and will eventually house the construction operations office trailer. Also arriving on Monday, January 8th, at the Eastern shore parking lot, will be a crane and 6-8 sections of barge that will be assembled and launched on site.
• On Tuesday, January 9th, the first of two dredges will arrive in three sections. Once assembled, the dredge “Cadiz”, a 12-inch cutter head suction dredge, will be launched on air filled rollers from the Eastern shore parking lot.
• On Wednesday, January 10th, a booster pump will arrive at Drake’s Island in preparation for the long-distance pumping of sand.
• On Thursday, January 11th, the Army Corps of Engineers will conduct an in-the-water inspection of the completed set up. Once the inspection is passed, Michels will be given the green light for a soft start.
• On Friday, January 12th, the dredge will start operating on a 12 hour per day basis, beginning in the settling basins in the jetty. 
• Starting Monday, January 15th, the dredge operation will commence with a 24 hour, 7-day schedule till completion. Soon after starting, a larger 16-inch cutterhead section dredge will be mobilized to ramp up production. The sand slurry, which is 80% water and 20% sand will be pumped to a drying pit where it will separate from the water very rapidly to be spread out on the beach by bulldozers.

We understand that curiosity is high, and this will be a very interesting project to watch. Please remember this is a Federal Construction site and security will be provided by the Army Corps of Engineers and Michels construction. That said, there is a possibility that if everyone listens to the workers and respects their authority, there will be several viewing opportunities over the coming weeks.

Thank you to the public for your patience and understanding throughout this process. Dredging is essential for beach nourishment.  It keeps waterways and ports navigable, and assists coastal protection, land reclamation and coastal redevelopment.  We greatly appreciate your cooperation and adherence to all temporary parking restrictions during this time.  Should there be any major changes from the listed schedule, we will be sure to notify you.