Improvements for Murrells Inlet, South Carolina: Hydraulic Model Investigation

Murrells Inlet, located 13 miles southwest of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is a natural channel through a sandy beachline that conducts tidal flows between the Atlantic Ocean and a well-mixed lagoon of ocean salinity which has no source of freshwater inflow other than local surface runoff. The inlet provides passage from the ocean to docking facilities for charter craft, commercial fishing vessels, and private boats. However, due to the influx of sand into the inlet, an environment of shallow shifting-sand shoals and breaking waves produces difficult and dangerous navigation conditions. A project for the improvement and stabilization of the inlet was authorized in November 1971. A model study was performed to aid in preconstruction planning and design of structural solutions to the problem of providing a stabilized channel of sufficient depth and width with provisions for sand bypassing.