The Oak Bluffs selectmen voted Tuesday to restrict traffic on East Chop Drive to one lane this winter out of concern for the unstable condition of the eroding bluff beneath the road. The vote came as the town continues to wrangle for funding to fix the bluff, and as East Chop residents press for a complete closure of the road this winter.
At a meeting nearly two weeks ago, the East Chop Association voted to recommend that the road be closed between Brewster and Munroe avenues.
In the fullness of time, coastal scientists say, Martha’s Vineyard will disappear back into the ocean and new islands will form on what is now Georges Bank. It is part of a grand cycle of sediment redistribution, where land is not lost, but simply transported from one spot to another.
As rapid erosion continues to threaten the Gay Head Light, a possible solution emerged this week to help mitigate the situation as the town embarks on a complicated, longer-term project to move the lighthouse.
After several days of inching forward along a deep, wide sandy trench, a Chappaquiddick home arrived late Tuesday at its new location farther away from a rapidly eroding bluff.
It’s been less than a year since emergency actions began to save the Wasque home of Richard and Jennifer Schifter. The key part of the project came this week with the move of the 8,300-square-foot main house.