Plagued by poor water quality, a pair of dead-end canals on Islamorada’s Lower Matecumbe Key will soon be cleaner — and clearer — thanks to an $8.9 million project.
In November, construction crews with the Key Colony Beach-based LPS Contracting began the work to install culvert pipes beneath Sandy Cove Avenue. The project is geared to improve the water quality at canals 155 and 157 by hydrologically connecting them. It’s one of the bigger canal restoration projects – and the most expensive so far – undertaken by the village and Peter Frezza, environmental resources manager.
“I’ve been working on this for four years between the permitting and securing grant funding,” Frezza said.
Specifically, the work involves the placement of multiple, 4-by-4-foot box culverts side-by-side underneath Sandy Cove Avenue, about 500 feet down from its intersection with U.S. 1. Frezza said the improvements aim to restore water quality at the canals, increasing the dissolved oxygen levels to meet state water quality standards. The culvert pipes will increase tidal exchange with nearshore waters.
The work required easements as the pipes run through private property. Frezza said the work will benefit those people with better water quality in their canals — and possibly even an increase in their property values.
The work is all funded through grants through the state, Frezza said.
The Sandy Cove project is one phase of a larger project to connect all dead-end canals on the southern end of Lower Matecumbe. The village is seeking to implement similar culvert connections for Lower MatecumbeKey canals 150, 151, 152 and 155.
