Bethany’s Loop Canal project to fight erosion begins

Update:  The 855ft retaining wall project along the Bethany Loop canal is back on track after the end of the government shutdown.

Credit to: Coastal Point, Susan Canfora

Photo: The Leslie Kopp Group

Construction of a retaining wall for Bethany Beach’s Loop Canal — a $1.5 million project — is under way, with a goal of stabilizing the land strip between Lake Bethany and the Loop Canal on Town property.

The work — which began on Monday, Oct. 27, and will continue through March 1 — is being done “in response to the erosion of the bank on the Loop Canal side and is expected to support stabilization of the bank for many years along with preservation of the bank,” according to information posted on the Town’s website, at www.townofbethanybeach.com.

Mayor Ron Calef this week told the Coastal Point the project is “extremely important” and will “protect the Town-owned land spit along the south side of the canal, which has been eroding with the swift flow of tidal waters entering and leaving the canal.”

“The bulkheads, along with an also soon-to-start living shoreline on the Lake Bethany side of this spit, will preserve the spit, its trees and natural habitat. Both projects will prevent further erosion flow into the Loop waters, maintain the navigability of the canal, and preserve an active heron rookery which becomes very active in the spring,” Calef said.

The project will include constructing an approximately 855-foot-long retaining wall along the Bethany Beach Loop Canal, which will closely follow the shape of the current eroding bank. After construction, the land strip will be replanted with loblolly pines, southern bayberry shrubs, grasses and other native plants along the top of the bank, creating a thick natural screen, enhancing habitat and allowing for natural plant loss over time, according to the website.

The cost of the contract for the retaining wall portion of the project is $1,370,131 million for construction and $162,742 for construction oversight, for a total cost of $1,532,873, Assistant Town Manager Teresa Tieman told the Coastal Point.

The construction contract was awarded to Murtech Marine Division in Salisbury, Md., and the oversight is being performed by engineers McCormick and Taylor in Newark, Del., Tieman said.

The Town received $500,000 of congressionally directed spending, approved while now U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester was Delaware’s representative in Congress; $475,000 in a state reinvestment fund, spearheaded by state Sen. Gerald Hocker and state Rep. Ron Gray; and $557,873 from the Town’s capital budget, Tieman said.

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, the contractor will bring barges into the Loop Canal through the Indian River Inlet and Assawoman Canal. The barges will be anchored to temporary pilings and in place on Nov. 5 and 6, according to the Town’s website.

Initial activities will include mobilization of equipment. Murtech expects to launch barges and equipment from Indian River Inlet. A turbidity curtain will be installed to contain suspended sediment stirred up by construction.

Work will also include construction layout and engineering, excavation of material, tree removal, installation of a retaining wall, backfilling the retaining wall, adding topsoil and planting.

There will be bi-weekly progress meetings, with updates being provided to affected property owners. Staging of equipment will occur near the Sandbar Court area. Residents can expect construction noise and piledriving associated with constructing the retaining walls.

The contractor will park vehicles along Sandbar Court. The cul-de-sac and right-of-way in the Sandbar Court area will be used for staging material, and unloading materials and soil from barges. The material will be removed and trucked offsite to a location Murtech chooses, the Town’s website states.