DATE: Thursday, October 16, 1997            TAG: 9710160502

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   27 lines

CORPS OF ENGINEERS LENDING BEACH A DREDGE FOR RUDEE INLET

Federal help is on the way for Rudee Inlet.

A dredge from the Army Corps of Engineers will stop in Virginia Beach on Saturday for up to a week to help clean the inlet. The dredge is en route from Wilmington, N.C., to Barnegat Bay, N.J.

The dredge Currituck will return to Rudee Inlet next month on its way back to North Carolina. A federal contractor will return in the spring for the corps' regular maintenance of the inlet.

Usually, the Army corps dredges Rudee Inlet once a year in the spring. This year, however, the corps missed its spring dredging because of contractual problems. It is coming to Virginia Beach this month and next month to make up the lost time.

``As winter approaches, with weather that can prohibit dredging for long periods, it is critical that the inlet is fully dredged as `advanced maintenance,' '' City Manager James Spore wrote this week. ``Public Works dredging crews did a superb job this summer keeping ahead of shoaling, even with an unusual June nor'easter.

``The extra measure provided by the Currituck visit should help keep shoaling problems to a minimum this winter,'' Spore wrote.

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