Bend in the Road beach, one of the most popular bathing beaches in Edgartown, will soon grow in size, thanks to a dredging project nearly a mile away in Sengekontacket Pond. The $200,000 beach enhancement project with the Edgartown dredge is expected to take about 10 days to complete. Dredged sand will come from an area in front of Sarson’s Island near the American Legion Memorial Bridge, also called the Big Bridge.

Town harbor master Charlie Blair is heading up the project.

The place being dredged is where sand accumulates with changing currents, constricting the tidal flow in the pond. The spot has been dredged before. There is also a future plan to dredge a channel from the same spot to Trapp’s Pond, a project intended to improve circulation in the pond for the health of the shellfish.

In the current project, the town plans to pump 10,000 cubic yards of sand. The line of dredge pipe is over a mile long. The first 1,500 feet of the pipe reaches a booster pump. From there the sand is pumped another 4,500 feet along the Joseph Sylvia Beach to the Bend in the Road. “We are putting the sand there to protect the highway and to enhance the town beach,” Mr. Blair said.

Normally dredging does not fall under the purview of the harbor master, but Mr. Blair said he volunteered to help manage the project for the dredge committee. The Edgartown highway department is providing support with heavy equipment. “They’ve been very helpful,” Mr. Blair said.

Bend in the Road beach is a popular spot for families. In the summer months the town recreation department provides swimming lessons there and pays to have a lifeguard on duty. In recent years the beach has narrowed from erosion. Mr. Blair said the town is trying to avoid a problem that arose years ago on the Oak Bluffs side when erosion undermined the road.

The Edgartown dredge spent this past summer out of the water at the town pit, a cost-saving measure. In the past it has spent summers in drydock in Vineyard Haven. The dredge was launched at the Katama boat ramp a week after Labor Day; it was outfitted for this project at Collins Beach.

Last week, during an extreme low tide, Mr. Blair said the dredge was taken under the Big Bridge with just a few inches of headroom to spare.