New Pass dredge halfway done

The sand from the $3.9 million dredge is being used to renourish nearby Lido Beach.

Work on the $3.9 million dredging of New Pass and nourishment of Lido Beach is nearly halfway done, Sarasota city officials said.

When the project is complete, nearly 185,000 cubic yards of sand will have been taken from New Pass, which connects Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

The dredging of New Pass follows the U.S. Coast Guard’s decision to remove the channel’s navigation markers — a signal to boaters the channel isn’t up to safety standards — in 2017. Coast Guard officials said prior they would re-examine the channel following the dredging to see if markers could be replaced.

Once it has been dredged, the sand is transported nearly 2 miles to Lido Beach as part of an emergency nourishment project that began following the city’s local state of emergency declaration in May 2018.