Official Site of The State of New Jersey

The New Jersey Department of Transportation's Office of Maritime Resources (NJDOT/OMR) is committed to working with private and public partners to better manage New Jersey's dredging challenges. Dredged material management is an evolving process that must incorporate the economic and recreational value of public access to state navigation channels, available material placement and management options, and beneficial use applications. NJDOT/OMR can not mandate that private marinas, municipalities, counties or other levels of government work together; therefore much of the process is driven by those who understand the importance of material management. Such decision-makers know that working cooperatively is the only way.

The future of dredged material management lies in the Regional Planning (doc 40k) approach. Regional Planning has traditionally taken place on an ad hoc basis. Now, an interagency effort is underway between NJDOT/OMR and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Engineering and Construction/Bureau of Coastal Engineering (NJDEP/BCE) to create a regional management agreement. The agreement will allow both offices to cooperate with other partners, both private and municipal, on dredging projects, and more specifically, dredged material placement. Non-state partners will pay a site management or user fee to place material in a Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) or other management site. In short, these fees will be collected by NJDOT and dedicated into an account that will be utilized solely to manage that particular dredged material placement site.

The future of New Jersey's coastal economy depends upon an efficient and effective dredged material management program. NJDOT/OMR encourages regional planning and cooperative efforts to achieve economies of scale and more efficient dredging projects. Centralized placement of material may further the establishment of beneficial use opportunities. Working across county and municipal boundaries will perpetuate and advance sediment management strategies on a watershed-wide basis. Each of these approaches, in combination with other material management efforts, will contribute to a direct cost-savings, economic benefits and quality of live improvements for all of New Jersey's residents and visitors.

NJDOT/OMR has many initiatives underway that will advance the State's dredged material management (DMM) capabilities dramatically. Projects are funded through the Office directly or through the I BOAT NJ Program.

• Dredged Material Management
• Regional Planning
• Beneficial Use of Dredged Material from Confined Disposal Facilities Summit
• Dredged Material Management System
• Use of Dredged Material in Flood Control Projects (pdf 982k)
• Case Study Economic Analysis
• Dredging Summit
• Dredging 101

Background

• Identify and inventory public and private dredging requirements,
• Match dredging projects with material placement options,
• Monitor existing CDF capacity and contents,
• Identify potential beneficial use applications
• Fund beneficial use development and related projects,
• Develop ranking criteria to prioritize dredging projects, and
• Develop a public outreach campaign to alleviate the public's concerns over the use of dredged material.

The original strategy was to compile a database to be used as a tool for the SCMMP. State decision makers would utilize the database to better manage non-port, relatively small quantities (<100kcy) of dredged material. The database was envisioned to contain all information pertaining to public and private dredging projects, CDF's, and the placement, disposal and beneficial use of dredged material in New Jersey. Data from past dredging projects was collected for inclusion in the database to help estimate sedimentation rates, which would allow NJDOT/OMR to anticipate future dredging and material processing and placement requirements; it quickly became clear that in most cases, the number one impediment to a dredging project was, and is, the unavailability of dredged material dewatering, management and/or placement areas. Within one to two years, however, the SCMMP plan quickly grew into a more ambitious effort, through the vision of NJDOT/OMR, public outreach efforts and the creation of an establish New Jersey Marine Trades Program.

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF files which is available at our state Adobe Acrobat Access page.