(5) Problems . A new small boat channel across Sandy Hook 

 Peninsula was needed to shorten the distance boats must traverse from 

 the Shrewsbury River and Navesink River region to the Atlantic Ocean. 

 Serious questions arose concerning the effect of this new inlet con- 

 struction on water surface elevations at the Highlands shoreline during 

 normal tides or during hurricane surges, current velocities and flow 

 patterns, the influx of pollution into Sandy Hook Bay from sources in 

 Raritan Bay and Upper New York Bay, and the transmission of wave energy 

 through the inlet. 



(6) Purpose of Model Study . The model study was conducted to 

 determine the effects of the inlet on (a) water quality in Sandy Hook 

 Bay and the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers from the viewpoints of public 

 health, recreation, and fish and wildlife; (b) flooding within the areas 

 as a result of normal tides and hurricane surges; (c) recreational boat- 

 ing and commercial navigation; (d) general shoaling characteristics and 

 maintenance requirements in the inlet channel; (e) the optimum location 

 and length of jetties at the ocean end of the proposed inlet; and (f) 

 transmission of wave energy through the inlet into Sandy Hook Bay. Be- 

 cause of the complicated phenomena to be investigated, an existing com- 

 prehensive model of the New York Harbor area was used to study the effects 

 of the inlet on water quality. Since many of these phenomena are in line 

 with estuarine modeling procedures, testing in the New York Harbor model 

 is discussed in Section III,b,h. Only parts of the study concerning the 

 new inlet model are discussed here. 



(7) The Model . A location map in Figure 7-3 shows part of the 

 region reproduced by the New York Harbor model; the area reconstructed 

 for the tests of the proposed new inlet (shown in Fig. 7-4), was a 1:100- 

 scale, undistorted, fixed-bed model of the inlet and adjacent parts of 

 the ocean and Sandy Hook Bay. This model was used to provide calibra- 

 tion data for the various inlet plans constructed in the New York Harbor 

 model, to study flow patterns and velocity distribution for the various 

 channel alinements and jetty locations, and to define the amount of wave 

 energy reaching the Highlands Marina area from storm waves generated in 

 the Atlantic Ocean and propagating through the inlet. Details of the 

 new inlet model are shown in Figure 7-5. 



Four plans were tested in the model. Plan 1 involved a channel with 

 a bottom width of 200 feet, beginning at the -17.2-foot depth MSL in the 

 Atlantic Ocean and continuing at that depth to the approximate centerline 

 of Sandy Hook Peninsula; a 1 on 20 transition slope of the bottom to a 

 depth of -11,2 feet MSL; and a bottom elevation of -11.2 feet MSL until 

 the inlet channel intersected the existing Federal navigation channel 

 from Sandy Hook Bay up Shrewsbury River. The channel sides had tran- 

 sition slopes of 1 on 3. The ocean end of the channel was flanked on 

 each side by protection jetties, each about 600 feet long. The width 

 and depth of the plan 2 inlet were the same as in plan 1; however, the 

 alinement of the bay part of the plan 2 channel was straight from the 

 ocean to the existing Shrewsbury River channel. The alinement of the 

 plan 3 inlet was identical to plan 1; however, the depth of the plan 3 



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