The last of four vehicles have been removed from a protected marshland on Tybee Island after getting stuck in the mud nearly a week ago.
The two holdouts, a backhoe and a pickup truck, were the result of the city’s first and second attempts to remove a Tybee Island beach patrol officer’s ATV, which became bogged down Friday afternoon on the north end of the island. The area is under the jurisdiction of the Georgia Coastal Marshlands Protection Act, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
A second backhoe also got stuck, but it was removed early Saturday morning using a Chatham County excavator, city officials said. City staff was eventually able to remove the ATV.
RELATED: Tybee Island to consider $20K proposal to remove vehicles stuck in marsh
The two remaining vehicles proved a little more challenging. The Tybee Island City Council approved a $19,200 plan on Wednesday to hire out a barge and a crane. The Industrial Company (TIC), a private company based in Colorado that operates its marine division out of Savannah, estimated the removal process would take 11 hours at a rate of $1,200 per hour. Also included in the estimate was a $6,000 charge for the equipment itself, according to documents provided to the council.
Crews got to work at 9 a.m. Thursday and had both vehicles removed within the hour, said Tyler Jones, a spokesman for the DNR’s Coastal Resources Division. A DNR representative was on scene to supervise the process.
The 7,000-pound pickup truck and 17,000-pound backhoe were sunken in mud near the shoreline. In order to get them out, the barge needed to be positioned within 110 feet at high tide, according to proposal documents. TIC said it would take measures to keep the environment clean, but the company could not ensure liquids would not leak from the equipment during the process.
“This was actually the easiest and the cleanest way to do it,” Jones said.
The state agency will send out a team in the coming days to determine what damage was done to the marsh and develop a plan to mitigate it.
Officials have not released any more information about how the ATV got stuck in the first place, but they have confirmed the officer was on duty at the time. Jones said vehicles are typically barred from the protected area without the proper permit.
The city is conducting its own investigation.
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