INDIAN RIVER INLET, DE - State leaders are stepping in to try and firm up a plan regarding the Indian River Inlet after recent dune breaches.
Crews Tuesday continued to work on repairing the dunes after the most recent breach late last month.
Ron Gray is a Delaware representative from the 38th District. Representative Gray told WBOC that the state is in it's eleventh hour to solve this issue and protect Route 1.
"It's our main artery," Rep. Gray said. "We have not done a good job of making sure this doesn't happen. Everybody's kinda surprised, but the ocean is just relentless."
Rep. Gray said he and other Delaware legislators are putting politics aside to come up with a plan. He said short-term solutions involve dredging and continuing to reinforce the hardened shoreline.
Rep. Gray said this plan relies on getting proper funding.
"I'm really hopeful," Rep. Gray said. "Some of the early discussions with Senator Carper's staff say that maybe there can be some federal funds that will enable this to happen very quickly, because state funds are tough to come by."
Looking long-term, Rep. Gray said fixing the sand bypass system is a top priority. He said the sand pump being out of commission is a big part of the problem.
"We need to take another hard look at that," Rep. Gray said. "Is it large enough to take care of this into the future? We just haven't done anything with it for two and a half years and it's just not been working."
Rep. Gray said they hope to have dredging materials for the short-term fix by November or December.
DNREC officials told WBOC that they plan to have the Indian River Inlet's sand bypass plant refurbished by the end of the year.
For a long-term fix, DNREC leaders also want to accelerate a 15-million dollar Army Corps of Engineers project to fix the inlet, if the proper funding is available.
