The Department of Transportation is surveying the waterways to help rid the debris and silt washed in from Superstorm Sandy.

Jet Star roller coaster in the ocean off Seaside Heights
Jet Star roller coaster in the ocean off Seaside Heights (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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Since January, the DOT has been working with construction and engineering management firm Parsons Brinckerhoff to conduct a survey of all the state channels. The survey's goal is to identify debris and silt deposits in channels that are commonly used by boaters.

"This isn't the main channels down the middle of the bay," says DOT spokesman Joe Dee. "This is the channels that lead from the main channels to the lagoons, marinas, etc that boaters use."

The survey work started February and Dee says to date of the 200 nautical miles of bay channels affected by the storm, roughly sixty percent have been surveyed.

"What we're finding is trees, branches, household items, significant sand and silt deposits, and we have come across two sunken boats."

Since March 1st, 177 debris locations have been identified.

Assessments of the channels in Ocean County have been completed and Dee says currently assessments of Middlesex and Monmouth Counties are under way.

"After we finish up there we turn our attention to the channels in the waterways of Burlington, Atlantic, and Cape May Counties."

Though the DOT is leading the survey, the Department of Environmental Protection will be leading the charge in dredging the waters and removing debris.

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