Maintenance Dredging at Knapps Narrows Completed

Southwind Construction of Evansville, Indiana, completed maintenance dredging at Knapps Narrows near Tilghman Island in Maryland on April 12. This maintenance project was overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District. The channel is used by watermen and recreational boaters and is also the main access to Poplar Island. Southwind Construction used its 14-inch, 1020 hp, cutterhead dredge, Jenni Lea II to perform the work.

Under the $1.4 million contract, the contractor removed approximately 100,000 cubic yards of material from the Knapps Narrows Federal Navigation Channel and restored it to its authorized depth of 9 feet, plus two feet of allowable overdepth. The 1.7-mile channel was also restored to a 75-foot width. The dredged material, which consists of sand, silt and mud, was pumped to the Donnel-Jones Farm, an upland site of about 20 acres. The Corps worked closely with the Maryland Department of Environment and Talbot County Department of Public Works to find an appropriate dredged material placement site. Work was completed on the site previously to allow for the placement.

Previous dredging of Knapps Narrows was last completed in 2006. Since then, silting has reduced the depth of the channel in some locations to just 1.5 to 2.5 feet.