An environmental restoration project on the southern end of Palm Beach is creating traffic issues throughout the island.
The Bonefish Cove project — for which several barges per day travel up and down the Intracoastal Waterway, prompting unscheduled bridge openings that leave motorists stuck in gridlock in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach — is part of a larger effort to restore habitat in the Lake Worth Lagoon.
Here’s a look at Bonefish Cove, including where it is, why it is happening, when it is scheduled to be completed and what officials are doing to try to help ease traffic congestion caused by the barges’ travel.
What is the Bonefish Cove project in Palm Beach?
The Bonefish Cove project sits within Palm Beach’s municipal boundary on the east side of the Intracoastal south of the Lake Worth Bridge.
It extends from roughly the Oasis Condominium at the north, to the Emeraude Condominium at the south.
The northernmost of two islands of the Bonefish Cove restoration project is just south of the Lake Worth Bridge on Jan. 2.
Plans call for two mangrove islands with bird-nesting mounds and intertidal oyster reefs.
Bonefish Cove is a joint project primarily between Palm Beach County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with the Army Corps as the lead agency. Other partners include the Florida Inland Navigation District, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Port of Palm Beach.
The county’s Environmental Resources Management department began working with the Army Corps on Bonefish Cove in 2015, said Matt Mitchell, county division director for environmental enhancement and restoration. His team manages the project for the county while coordinating with the Army Corps.
The Army Corps has $10 million dedicated to Bonefish Cove, and the county has budgeted $6.4 million for construction of the project, according to a recent email from County Administrator Verdenia Baker to the County Commission.
“The goal is restoration of the Lake Worth Lagoon by the beneficial reuse of previous dredge material” stored at Peanut Island, Mitchell said, “to create submerged seagrass habitat and emergency mangrove islands and supplementing that with limestone rock to create oyster reefs.”
The Bonefish Cove project was delayed when residents south of the site expressed concerns that Bonefish Cove would cut into a route between their homes and the Intracoastal, Mitchell said.
“So basically, what we had to do was pivot as quickly as we could,” he said. Where there previously were three small islands, the plans now feature two, with a channel between them to allow that access to remain open, Mitchell said.
A barge traveling south to the Bonefish Cove restoration project site in the Intracoastal Waterway approaches the Royal Park Bridge, prompting that bridge to open off-schedule on Dec. 17.
Why are the Army Corps and Palm Beach County building Bonefish Cove?
The Army Corps began working years ago to restore the Lake Worth Lagoon habitat that had been destroyed by decades of freshwater discharges and runoff from South Florida’s canal network, according to the agency’s documents for the Lake Worth Lagoon Ecosystem Restoration Project.
Bonefish Cove will add 35 acres of new estuarine habitat once completed, Baker said in her email to commissioners.
It is similar the Snook Islands Natural Area on the northwest side of the Lake Worth Bridge, and the Tarpon Cove restoration project on the west side of the lagoon next to West Palm Beach’s El Cid neighborhood, Baker wrote.
When will Bonefish Cove be completed?
The project is currently scheduled to be completed in August, an Army Corps spokesperson previously told the Daily News.
How are barges used for the Bonefish Cove project?
Between three and four barges per day carry material from what are called dredge material management areas near Peanut Island — which sits in the Intracoastal just northwest of Palm Beach’s North End — south to Bonefish Cove, an Army Corps spokesperson told the Daily News.
That amounts to six to eight daily unscheduled openings of the three bridges that connect Palm Beach to West Palm Beach.
The barges are typically 100 to 150 feet long and pushed by tugboats, Mitchell said. The barges also move slowly — painfully slowly, for those sitting in vehicles on either side of the bridges wondering why traffic is at a standstill.
“These types of vessels are very difficult to stop safely on short notice and are less stable than other vessels to have waiting while being towed,” the Army Corps spokesperson said. “The barges are heavy and are loaded with material and equipment that further complicates the safe displacement in water.”
What are officials doing?
Palm Beach officials are working with the county, contractors, Army Corps and other federal officials to try to better coordinate when the barges will travel.
The Town Council also in December granted approval for work on the project to happen on Sundays, which should reduce the number of barge trips during the week, officials said.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Where are barges going in Palm Beach? What to know about Bonefish Cove