Army Corps Wilmington District awards $7M contract to stabilize eroding Snow’s Cut

SEA BREEZE, N.C. (WECT) - Decades of shoreline erosion along Snow’s Cut have widened the channel, closed a public park, and raised concerns about navigation safety along a key link between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Now, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Monday, July 20, it has awarded a $7,015,897 contract to Cape Romain Contractors, Inc. to address the problem.

The contract is for bank stabilization work along the man-made channel. Snow’s Cut, which separates Carolina Beach and Kure Beach from mainland New Hanover County, was dug between 1929 and 1931 with an authorized original width of 90 feet.

According to a September 2025 draft environmental assessment prepared by the Corps’ Wilmington District, erosion over the decades has expanded the channel to between 400 and 600 feet wide along much of its length.

The assessment found the channel has lost an average of 0.86 acres of shoreline per year. Between 1953 and 2013, the northern bank eroded at an average of 1.6 linear feet annually, while the southern bank lost 1.8 linear feet per year, according to the document.

The erosion has had visible consequences. Snow’s Cut Park, managed by New Hanover County, was closed in June 2021 after severe erosion created dangerous drop-offs along the shoreline, the assessment reports. County officials estimated bank loss within the park’s boundaries at 2 to 5 linear feet per year.

Erosional escarpments ranging from 10 to 25 feet high are present along both shorelines, and exposed tree root systems have accelerated bank failure as trees fall into the waterway, according to the document.

The newly-approved contract to Cape Romain covers stabilization of approximately 7,500 feet of shoreline across four reaches of Snow’s Cut. Work at three of the reaches will involve riprap revetments, grading, and vegetation planting. The fourth reach, adjacent to Carolina Beach State Park, will use wave attenuators and living shoreline structures, the assessment said.

The Corps said the project will also reduce the need for future maintenance dredging of the federal navigation channel by limiting the amount of eroded sediment entering the waterway.

“Work is expected to begin in the coming months, with USACE Wilmington managing project oversight and quality assurance,” said the Corps in its release.