REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS ON REVIEW OF REPORTS HERETOFORE SUBMITTED ON BARNEGAT INLET, N. J., WITH ILLUSTRATION

Hon. J. J. MANSFIELD,

WAR DEPARTMENT,

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS,
Washington, January 6, 1936.

Chairman, Committee on Rivers and Harbors,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. MANSFIELD: 1. The Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives, by resolution adopted March 26, 1935, requested the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors to review the reports on Barnegat Inlet, N. J., submitted in Rivers and Harbors Committee Document No. 19, Seventy-third Congress, second session, with a view to determining if the recommendation in said document should be modified in any way at this time. I enclose herewith the report of the Board in response thereto.

2. Barnegat Inlet is an opening in the barrier beach on the coast of New Jersey, 50 miles south of Sandy Hook. It is the main entrance to Barnegat Bay, the largest of a series of shallow coastal lagoons along the New Jersey coast. A tortuous channel with depths in excess of 5 feet connects the inlet with the Inland Waterway, dredged to a depth of 6 feet by the State of New Jersey, which traverses the length of the bay with outlets to the ocean at Manasquan Inlet, 23 miles to the north, and Beachhaven Inlet, 18 miles to the south. The river and harbor act approved August 30, 1935, authorized improvement of Barnegat Inlet in accordance with the report under review, to provide a channel 8 feet deep through the inlet and 10 feet deep through the outer bar, the channel to be protected by

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two converging stone jetties extending to the outer 12-foot contour and spaced 1,000 feet apart at the outer ends; a channel 8 feet deep and 300 feet wide extending in a northwesterly direction from the gorge in the inlet to the Oyster Creek Channel just northwest of Sunset Shoal; and a channel across the inner bar 8 feet deep and 300 feet wide extending from the Oyster Creek Channel to deep water in the bay, at an estimated cost of $533,000, with $8,000 annually for maintenance; provided that the State of New Jersey or local interests shall contribute two-thirds of the first cost of the work, but not to exceed $355,000. This local contribution has not been proffered and no work on the project has been undertaken. Local interests now request that the local contribution required under the project be eliminated or reduced to one-third of the total cost of the improvement.

3. The area generally tributary to Barnegat Bay includes some 40 towns and summer resorts with a permanent population of 24,000, and an estimated transient summer population of about 90,000. The present use of the inlet is principally by craft engaged in commercial and sport fishing. In 1932 it was estimated that the annual commerce was 3,605 tons, of which 2,000 was fish and 1,000 petroleum. 4. The Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, after a full consideration of the reports of the district and division engineers and of the additional information presented by local interests at a public hearing held by the Board, finds no sufficient ground for modifying the plan of improvement recommended in the document under review and authorized by Congress, except to provide for dredging the inner channels to such dimensions as will best meet the hydraulic requirements rather than to meet precisely the dimensions set forth in the project document. While the Board finds that it is manifestly impossible to establish with accuracy the general and local benefits to be anticipated from the improvement, it considers it equitable to place the general and local benefits as substantially equal in amount. Local interests are obviously not in a position to contribute an indefinite sum to the improvement, and the risk of any increased cost beyond that estimated must be borne by the Federal Government. In view of the uncertainties inherent upon the construction of works on a continuously changing shore, the Board recognizes the fact that it may prove necessary to incur increased costs in assuring a stable entrance channel through the inlet. These considerations establish, in the view of the Board, the sum of $300,000 as the amount which should be contributed by local interests. The Board therefore recommends the modification of the existing project for Barnegat Inlet. N. J., to provide for a channel 8 feet deep through the inlet and 10 feet through the outer bar, the channel to be protected by two converging stone jetties extending to the outer 12foot contour and spaced 1,000 feet apart at the outer ends; a channel of suitable hydraulic characteristics extending in a northwesterly direction from the gorge in the inlet to the Öyster Creek Channel just northwest of Sunset Shoal, thence via Oyster Creek Channel to deep water in the bay, at an estimated cost of $533,000 with $8,000 annually for maintenance; provided that the State of New Jersey or local interests shall contribute $300,000 to the first cost of the work.