Jones Inlet is located at the westernmost end of the long
Jones Beach barrier island that runs along
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
's south shore. The inlet separates
Jones Beach State Park
Jones Beach State Park (colloquially "Jones Beach") is a state park in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located in southern Nassau County, New York, Nassau County on Jones Beach Island, a barrier island linked to Long Island by ...
's West End from the community of
Point Lookout and connects
with the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
. In 2006, the inlet handled approximately 10,000 tons of commercial tonnage.
Shifting sand bars and shallow waters have made the inlet treacherous for boaters to navigate, which prompted New York State to allocate $7.6 million of funding for the
to dredge the inlet in 2008. In addition to improving navigational safety for vessels, the sand dredged from the inlet was pumped onto the Point Lookout shoreline to help mitigate the effects of
beach erosion. The inlet was previously dredged in 1995-1996.
The
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
Station Jones Beach is located near the east side of the inlet on Jones Beach Island.
References
{{coord, 40, 34, 57, N, 73, 34, 40, W, display=title
Inlets of New York (state)
Hempstead, New York
Bodies of water of Nassau County, New York