LIVING SHORELINE ALONG AIRPORT ROAD ON THE MOVE
June 16, 2020
University of Florida Drs. Savanna Barry and Mark Clark have begun the next iteration of turning Cedar Key’s Airport Road from a quickly eroding street into a lane far more protected by a living shoreline. Dr. Barry explained, “This phase involves the installation of oyster reef structures offshore from Airport Road.” 
The oyster reef structures, sometimes called reef balls, are impressive structures. Each has a four-foot base, is 2.9 feet tall, and weighs 1,300 pounds.
They were delivered very recently by eleven eighteen-wheelers which brought 384 reef balls to Cedar Key from Sarasota. Each trailer carried 36 reef balls. The structures are now temporarily located on the lot on Whiddon Avenue, the west end, that was used for staging materials for the recently completed airport area bridges.
Developed by the Reef Ball Foundation, a 501 non-profit group, these reef balls were constructed, delivered, and installed by Sarasota’s Larry Beggs of Reef Innovations, Inc.
With heavy equipment, Beggs’ crew of four load balls onto their boat adjacent to the staging lot, deliver them to the areas marked by PVC pipes along Airport Road, and place them in the water. As all placements are completed on the water, no traffic complications will occur.
Each accumulation of oyster structures will be about the size of the trailer that brought them to Cedar Key. Spaces will exist between the constructed reefs for kayak and small boat traffic.
Ultimately, explained Dr. Mark Clark, sixteen reefs consisting of 24 oyster reef structures will result.
Beggs’ crew can only work six hours a day because of tide constraints. At that rate, and on a good day, they should be able to complete four trips a day. Eight or nine days, perhaps two weeks should complete the job.
Pictures courtesy of Patty Jett, Savanna Barry, and Molly Jubitz.
