May 2024
FACT SHEET
St. Lucie Inlet, FL
Operations and Maintenance (O&M)
Congressional District: 21
1. DESCRIPTION
St. Lucie Inlet is located in Martin County on the Atlantic coast of Florida, approximately midway down the state. Section 201 of the Flood Control Act of 1965 authorized the project, which includes a channel 16 feet deep and 300 feet wide, tapering to 10 feet deep and 150 feet wide through the inlet, as well as a channel 7 feet deep and 100 feet wide between the inlet and the Intracoastal Waterway. Project modifications were authorized in 1974 to include a sediment impoundment basin adjacent to the north jetty, an extension of the north jetty (including 500ft. weir section), a detached breakwater immediately south of the entrance channel, and construction of a new south jetty. To date the only shortfall is that the south jetty was constructed 200 feet short of its authorized length.
2. FUNDING
a. Regular Civil Works Funds:
| Allocation for FY24 |
$0 |
| President's Budget FY25 |
$0 |
3. SPONSOR
Martin County Board of County Commissioners
2401 SE. Monterey Road
Stuart, Florida 34996
4. STATUS
The St Lucie Inlet impoundment basin requires O&M dredging approximately every 3 years. The last O&M event was conducted in 2018 and was performed with a mechanical dredge and approximately 512k cubic yards of material was dredged and placed in a disposal area located offshore from Jupiter Island (Borrow Area B). This material will be dredged from Borrow Area B and placed on downdrift beaches in the future. Funding was not received in 2021. As a result, Martin County proceeded and completed with O&M dredging on their own to ensure that the channel remained open. Funding received in FY 2022 is being used to develop plans & specifications for an upcoming O&M event and rehabilitation of the south jetty. Martin County executed a contributed funds agreement in March 2016 for the Jacksonville District Corps of Engineers to perform operation and maintenance (O&M) dredging within the Inlet every 2 to 3 years if federal funding is not available.
Martin County executed a contributed funds agreement in March 2016 for the Jacksonville District Corps of Engineers to perform operation and maintenance (O&M) dredging within the Inlet every 2 to 3 years if federal funding is not available.
A Maintenance Dredging event is scheduled for FY2024. The Contract was awarded in March 2024 for the Maintenance dredging of approximately 389,000 cubic yards from the St. Lucie Inlet Channel and Impoundment Basin. The disposal for the FY2024 event is at the offshore Borrow Area B to be used for future beach nourishments.
