The wetlands around the Route 72 Manahawkin Bay Bridge at Cedar Bonnet Island in Manahawkin, New Jersey have long served as a place to dispose dredge, the sediments that spring up in navigable waterways. To transform the area into an environmentally friendly space, during the construction phase, the STV construction inspection team worked with the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) on a mitigation project to renew the location and its surroundings. This included the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge and Habitat, a 39-acre, sustainable community nature center. Once complete new channels will remediate levels of potential contaminants and mitigate the effects of coastal flooding along the bay. The effort included planting 13,000 native trees and shrubs, preservation of wildflowers, open meadows, and other native vegetation that blanket the island including more than 450,000 2” wetland plugs throughout the marsh areas.

During construction, STV’s project team overcame several environmental factors, including rising and lowering tides, and coastal storms which damaged ongoing work. The firm also had to account for area birds that displayed a healthy appetite for newly planted vegetation. STV worked alongside NJDOT to complete the project by removing acid-producing soil, mitigating and creating new water channels, and integrating new trees and preservation for wildflowers, open meadows, and native plants.