Robbinsville & Marmora, NJ & Richboro, PA- August 12th, 2024– ACT Engineers has been awarded the NJ Alliance for Action’s 2024 Distinguished Engineering Award for its Ocean City Comprehensive Back Bay Adaptive Management Plan. This award highlights projects that had a significant impact on the Garden State’s economy and environment.

Ocean City in Cape May County, New Jersey, has improved its coastal defenses and green practices through the Back Bay Adaptive Management Program led by ACT Engineers with Anchor, QEA. What started as a dredging project has grown into a comprehensive multi-year plan increasing resiliency and protecting natural habitats. The Plan initially addressed the emergent need for navigational channel maintenance as bayside properties were engulfed in sediment that restricted boats’ passage during all but high tide periods. The network of tidal waterways and wetlands surrounding Ocean City is an essential component of the local economy, commercial and recreational lifestyle, and environment. This Plan ensures water navigability, provides flood resiliency, and protects unique and valuable natural resources for the Back Bay ecosystem.

ACT’s ability to create a city-wide aerial survey combined with a bathymetric survey of the navigable areas, including private slip areas and city and state channels, allowed us to identify areas that required dredging. Additionally, it helped identify low-lying areas of the city that experience regular flooding with limited dredge material storage capacity and coupling residents with trapped boats. Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian envisioned a city-wide dredge permit where materials could be beneficial to build resiliency and restore the depleted agricultural socials in communities surrounding Ocean City. ACT reviewed historical data and existing permits and worked with city staff, state, and federal regulators to implement dredging programs from 2015 through 2023. ACT collaborated with vendors, regulators, and stakeholders to develop beneficial reuse options for material management. Thus, building a market for New Jersey re-purposed dredge material.

Before 2018, Ocean City’s bayfront was governed by a variety of permits filed by the state, the city, homeowners, or homeowner associations. Bayfront property owners have had to apply for individual permits involving significant cost, time, and constraints. Having a city-wide permit in place also made it much more practical and affordable for private owners to dredge. As a result, since 2015 over 450,000 cubic yards of material were collectively removed from Ocean City’s bayside creating healthier waterways. Property values, recreational opportunities, and bayside events, such as Ocean City’s signature Night in Venice, all substantially benefit from the city-wide permit. The Plan implemented local sediment traps to help capture and manage sediment before it accumulates in individual slips, reducing the cost and frequency of dredging for residents.

The Plan identifies a sequence of future projects and plans to build the resiliency of the island community over the coming years. Projects including Bay Island restoration, roadway elevations, drainage, and trail improvements linked together to develop a more resilient community.

For more information about ACT Engineers, Inc., visit actengineers.com or call 609-918-0200.

About ACT Engineers, Inc.

ACT Engineers, Inc. is a Civil Engineering Consultant Firm with offices in Robbinsville and Marmora, New Jersey as well as Richboro, Pennsylvania. With over 30 years of expertise, ACT Engineers, Inc. proudly serves their client’s construction, engineering, and public outreach needs for both private and public sector projects. ACT Engineers, Inc. is comprised of a multi-faceted team of professional talent and expertise in civil engineering, coastal services, environmental services, surveying, public involvement, landscape architecture, and construction administration.