New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Shrewsbury Maintenance Dredging project created safe, easy-to-navigate channels and improved marine travel comfort, while enhancing the community’s quality of life for years to come.

The $4.6 million project determined, based on hydrographic survey data, that 13 waterway channels throughout the Shrewsbury Bay require substantial maintenance. Often, families and fisherman would need to plan trips around tide availability leading to uncertainty as to whether a vessel would be able to safely return to its original dock. The initiative addressed one of the last few areas of coastline by the state’s extensive post-storm waterway emergency response program. Moreover, shifting sands created hazardous underwater shoals – which is a shallow area of water caused by the buildup of sand, sediment or other material – that restricted navigation and posed unnecessary safety risks to the boating public. From an operational standpoint, the contractors multi-dredge management approach enabled project completion in a very tight timeframe.

Without the contractor partnership and thoughtful operational approach, the project would not have been completed on time nor on budget. New Jersey DOT worked closely with H&L Contracting LLC to minimize community impacts through careful planning, construction methods, and coordinated equipment use between the prime and secondary subcontractors. This approach allowed the project to be completed efficiently with minimal disruption to local communities.