Trucks should be rolling out to Coos Bay’s North Jetty, hauling massive rocks, by month’s end. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins repairs, the work will close the Foredune and South Dike roads to the public. Officials aren’t sure the exact date of when that will happen, though they expect it to be around Nov. 24.

The Corps originally planned to start the project in September, but finding the right rocks took longer than expected. Preparation work on the North Spit is scheduled to begin today, with stone arriving at the BLM overland staging area next week.

Once the contractor is ready to haul rock to the jetty, the roads will remain closed until completion of the project, or March 15, 2009, whichever is sooner.

John Craig, the project manager, said the plan right now is to begin repairs to the jetty the week of Nov. 24.

“We’ll give everyone at least two- or three-day’s notice. More if we can,” he said.

The agency has hired Kerr Contractors Inc., of Woodburn, to repair three sections of the jetty damaged last winter by big storms.

Craig said Corps personnel will inspect the jetty in the next couple of days to determine if the recent storm system exacerbated existing problems.

The Corps estimates the contractor will use 45,000 tons of stone to patch the jetty. Kerr tested stone from a variety of quarries to make sure the material would meet Corps specifications. Some tests took as many as 20 days to process, a Corps spokesman said, delaying the start of the work.

Corps officials figure there is a 50 percent chance the jetty could breach without the emergency work. A jetty failure might result in sediment blocking the navigation channel or making its use unsafe.

A more permanent repair is slated to begin in 2013, subject to getting funding from Congress.