GREAT LAKES BEGINS MAINTENANCE WORK AT BALTIMORE HARBOR

In January the U.S. Army Corps on Engineers began a $25.6 million maintenance dredging project at Baltimore Harbor in Maryland. The project will remove approximately 2.6 million cubic. The Corps awarded the contract to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock.

The following channels will be dredged to their respective authorized dimensions plus specified allowable overdepths ranging from one to two feet: 

Fort McHenry Channel to a depth of 51 feet and width of 700 feet (roughly 528000 cubic yards); 

Seagirt Channel West to a depth of 42 feet and width of 500 feet (roughly 23000 cubic yards); 

Brewerton Eastern Extension to a depth of 36 feet and width of 700 feet (roughly 1.47 million cubic yards); 

Craighill Entrance to a depth of 51 feet and width of 700 feet (roughly 610000 cubic yards).

Approximately 2.63 million cubic yards PACIFIC of material primarily mud silt sand shell and mixtures is being removed from the channels as part of these maintenance operations. In coordination with the State of Maryland the roughly 2.1 million cubic yards of material dredged from channels below the Key Bridge will be beneficially reused at the Paul S. Sarbanes Ecosystem Restoration Project at Poplar Island located on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay. (For more on the Poplar Island project see the IDR January/February 2015 issue). Also in coordination with the State of Maryland the roughly 550000 cubic yards of material dredged from channels above the Key Bridge will be placed at Cox Creek Dredged Material Containment Facility.