NEW YORK – – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Yellow Bar Hassock Marsh Island Restoration Project in Jamaica Bay, N.Y. is underway. The project aims to address the vanishing marsh islands within the Bay.

The Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge will be intermittently raised commencing during the fourth week of January to facilitate transporting heavy loads of sand by waterborne vessels to reach Jamaica Bay through the waterway inlet.

The vessels being used to transfer necessary sand to the site require clearance under the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, requiring the bridge to be raised to safely allow the vessels to travel. The bridge crosses Rockaway Inlet and connects the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, with Marine Parkway to Floyd Bennett Field and
Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.

The bridge can be raised proving clearance to 150 feet at mean high water. Fifteen minutes is expected each time the bridge is lifted through February 2012.

To minimize the impacts to daily commuters during rush hour, the bridge lifts will occur primarily during off peak hours, when there are the least vehicles on the road, however, the barges aren’t always able go under the bridge at non-peak hours. An alternate bridge that many commuters use is the Cross Bay Bridge.

“The corps is committed to this work and will make every effort to minimize the inconvenience to the public from the bridge raisings,” said Col. John R. Boulé. II, the Army Corps’ New York District commander. “The overall project will have a significant
positive impact on Jamaica Bay, which will last decades beyond construction completion.”

The restoration effort will restore approximately 40 acres of marsh islandvia placement of 375,000 cubic yards of clean sand dredged from Ambrose Channel as part of the ongoing N.Y./N.J. Harbor Deepening Project.

Previous marsh island restoration activities occurred in January 2010 where the bridge was lifted intermittently to facilitate the safe transfer of sand by barge to restore Elders Island. The number of barge transfers will facilitate expeditious safe sand transfer by not prolonging the evolution and reduce costs and save taxpayer dollars.

The Marsh Islands at Jamaica Bay are within the Hudson-Raritan Estuary and one of the largest estuaries on the east coast. Nearly 80 percent of the Estuary’s tidal salt marshes have been lost and approximately 47 acres/year have been disappeared in Jamaica Bay.