9.5.4 Eastern Shore The Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, carried on the spine of Route 13, is fractured by numerous rivers, sounds and islands that are disappearing with a combination of rising waters and subsiding land. Rain that falls here is held in interstices, pores, fields, depressions, fissures, but most significantly in a network of ditches through which it overflows its ways to the bay. It is a gradient from containment to open waters that is today polluted by the poultry industry and agricultural fields. This pollution makes its way into the bay, causing excessive algae blooms while also endangering resident and migrant populations of blue crab and menhaden among others, and with them the culture and economy of the watermen who have lived on these shores for centuries.
PRINCESS ANNE
Eastern Shore
POCOMOKE CITY
Figure 9.56: North Frontier
FISHERMAN’S ISLAND
CHESAPEAKE BAY
Figure 9.55: Eastern Shore Frontier
171 SCR Phase 1: Context, Site, and Vulnerability Analysis February 2014
LIQUID
SOLID
DITCH
TROUGH
FARMS
BAY
SOUND
COBB 400 0
SU B M E RG E D AQUAT I C V EG E TAT I O N
RAI NFAL L
RE D T I D E
P F I EST E RI A
BLU E C RA B
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
J
Figure 9.57: Eastern Shore Gradient: Operational, Material, Temporal, Spatial, and Ecological
09 Norfolk and Hampton Roads, Virginia 172
Off-Sites: Ditches, Sounds, and Islands in the Bay The estuaries off the eastern shore extend between the polluted waters of farms draining through rivers and Chesapeake Bay islands endangered by these waters as well as by sea level rise. We propose fingers of high ground in the mouths of these rivers, intercepting their flow, operating as troughs that hold, sieve, treat, and clean runoff by biotic means. This interception reaches deep inland through the network of ditches, in some instances turning the ditches themselves into troughs that hold before they drain. This interception also reaches into the sound, to islands such as Tangiers, where troughs work to build ground and hold and nurture fragile habitats. Beyond the islands, fingers of troughs work to attenuate waves. On Tangiers Island, we use troughs to build on an existing configuration of shallow ridges of firmer sediment, stitching, extending and raising them to become new grounds for settlement, saltmarshes, and submerged aquatic environments.
POCOMOKE RIVER
POCOMOKE CITY
TEMPERANCEVILLE
TO N
OR
FO
LK
TANGIER ISLAND
Figure 9.59: Eastern Shore Ditches
Figure 9.58: Eastern Shore Research Plot
173 SCR Phase 1: Context, Site, and Vulnerability Analysis February 2014
Figure 9.60: Tangier Island
Figure 9.61: Pocomoke River Mouth
C
C
C
C
F
F B
B E
B E
F F
D
B
A
E E
Figure 9.62: Plan and Sectional Index
D
D
D
A
A
A
Figure 9.63: Plan and Sectional Index
09 Norfolk and Hampton Roads, Virginia 174
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Figure 9.64: Eastern Shore Horizons: Route 13 and Chicken Farms 1 2 3 4
Purdue Processing Plant Temperanceville Route 13 Cape Charles
175 SCR Phase 1: Context, Site, and Vulnerability Analysis February 2014
5 Fisherman’s Island 6 Chesapeake Bay 7 Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
Figure 9.65: Typological Sections A Jetty Dredged Channel Boat Landing Nutrient Capture Troughs B Spartina Marsh Troughs Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Tangier Housing Living Jetty C Water Aeration Troughs Algal Raceway Cleaning Sieve D Farm Overflow Water Holding Trough E Runway Submerged Aquatic Vegetation F Land Building Troughs Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Oyster Stands Crab Habitat
SECTION A JETTY
DREDGED CHANNEL
BOAT LANDING
NUTRIENT CAPTURE
SPARTINA
SAV
SECTION B
TANGIER HOUSING
JETTY
SECTION C SIEVE WATER AERATION CELLS
CLEAN
ALGAL RACEWAY
FARM
LAND BUILDING
SECTION D
HOLD HOLD
CLEAN
SUBMERGED AQUATIC VEGETATION
SECTION E
LAND BUILDING
SUBMERGED AQUATIC VEGETATION OYSTER STANDS
SECTION F CRAB HABITAT
Figure 9.66: Project Gradients
09 Norfolk and Hampton Roads, Virginia 176