Cape Henry Dredging Underway

On April 10, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD) of Illinois began dredging the Cape Henry Channel at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Under a $14.5 million contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, the contractor will remove approximately 2.5 million cubic yards of material as part of the regular maintenance of shipping routes to the Port of Baltimore. The channel will be dredged to a depth of 51 feet, plus one foot of overdepth. GLDD is using its 315.6-foot split hull hopper dredge, Terrapin Island. The dredge has an 80-foot dredging depth and a hopper capacity of 6,400 cubic yards. The dredged material, consisting of mud, silt, sand and shell, will be placed at Dam Neck Ocean Dredge Material Disposal Site. Work is expected to be completed by the fall.