Longboat Key dredging focus shifts to north island

Longboat Pass dredging work should be underway over the weekend, according to town official and project officials.

“Dredging should start within a day or so,” Town Manager Dave Bullock said in a Thursday interview.

The Pullen, a 150-foot-long cutterhead pipeline hydraulic dredge, will pump an estimated 210,000 cubic yards of sand to repair more than 4,0000 linear feet of Longboat Key shoreline in two areas: from North Shore Road to just south of Broadway Street and along the beach between 6700 and 6931 Gulf of Mexico Drive. Dredging will go on 24 hours day.

New Pass is clear of all dredging equipment. The dredge is repositioned to Longboat Pass and the floating pipe and pipe barges are en route, according to the project manager.

Bullock said trucks would soon begin hauling sand next week while operating from a site near Longboat Key Club. The supplemental truck haul will lay an estimated 33,000 cubic yards of sand between the Resort at Longboat Key and New Pass.

Trucks will access the construction zone through Key Club property on Longboat Club Road from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday until the job is done.

The entire beach renourishment project is expected to wrap up in late October but an earlier completion is possible.

The $10 million Central Key Truck Haul project was completed two months ahead of schedule earlier this year.