SALISBURY — It's like the circus coming to town.
The massive vessel that is going to dredge the Merrimack River channel made a spectacular entrance into the harbor yesterday, pulled by one large tugboat and guided by three smaller tugs.
The cutter suction dredge Illinois was hauled between the Merrimack River jetties on the high tide, shortly after 3 yesterday afternoon, arriving from Norfolk, Va., two days ahead of schedule.
The Illinois is 320 feet long and 67 feet wide, according to the Web site of the company that owns it, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. of Oak Brook, Ill.
Preparations got under way over the weekend for a project to dredge the channel and deposit the sand directly onto beaches here and on Plum Island.
Great Lakes is doing the dredging and beach nourishment work under a $5.518 million contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Equipment began arriving Friday afternoon and the set-up work began Saturday.
Site manager Jenna Libby yesterday said the crews were not encountering any unexpected problems and work was proceeding according to plan.
Prep work was taking place on the Salisbury side of the harbor near the mouth of Black Rock Creek and the navigation aid known as "Ben Butler's Toothpick."
Although the project employs large pieces of equipment, tugboats and a crane, the work crew's weekend audience generally consisted of a few casual observers — Salisbury Beach State Reservation beachgoers and people fishing from the shore, and the occasional passing pleasure boat.
Libby said dredging work would begin in a few days and be completed about two weeks after that.
The dredging is expected to yield an estimated 160,000 cubic yards of sand. The first 40,000 yards will be piped to Salisbury Beach and the remaining 120,000 yards will be deposited along a 2,500-foot stretch of beach in the Newbury section of Plum Island, from Plum Island Center northward to approximately across from 28th Street.
Once dredging starts, the Great Lakes crews will be working 24 hours a day. There will be heavy earthmoving equipment at work on the beach, illuminated by three light towers.
Newbury police Chief Michael Reilly will decide whether, when and where to close off public access to the beach so that work will not be impeded and safety will be preserved.
The project has been in the works for nearly two years after a storm in April 2007 started a pattern of accelerated beach erosion that claimed one home on Plum Island's Northern Boulevard and threatened several others.
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