St. Paul District Does Emergency Dredging on Mississippi River

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul District is preparing to dredge in two separate areas within the Mississippi River to reopen the nine-foot navigation channel to commercial navigation. It has contracted LS Marine Inc. from Vadnais Heights Minnesota to do the work.

High flows from the June floods caused dredge material to fill areas within the channel. The Corps needs to remove the material to reestablish the required nine-foot river navigation depth.

The Corps and its contractors will begin dredging tomorrow July 25 near Winona Minnesota in Pool 6 from river mile 718 to 724.

The Corps is already dredging in Pool 4 near Alma Wisconsin at river mile 754. The Corps hopes to have the area near Alma reopened by July 25 and anticipates opening the area near Winona on July 29 with a 100-foot wide pilot channel. The Corps hopes to widen the channel to 200 feet by August 2.

At this time the dredged material will be placed at various placement sites along the river. The Corps may need to explore additional material placement options should future dredging requirements become necessary.