Headquarters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers News Releases

Poplar Island Ecosystem Restoration Expansion Complete, Open to accept Dredge Material

Press Operations — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 21:19:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, completed construction of the Poplar Island Ecosystem Restoration Project lateral expansion Jan. 20, 2021, providing 575 additional acres, including four new wetland cells and one large upland cell. The project is now able to accept dredged material associated with the approach channels to the Port of Baltimore until around 2032.

USACE to begin dredging Intracoastal Waterway near St. Lucie and Jupiter Inlets

Press Operations — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 16:02:00 GMT

The Jacksonville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will begin dredging sections of the Intercoastal Waterway in the vicinity of St. Lucie Inlet and Jupiter Inlet, in Martin and Palm Beach Counties, on or about Oct. 16, 2020.

Protecting fragile coasts and improving community resilience

Press Operations — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 01:12:00 GMT

In this episode of the new Engineering With Nature® Podcast, guest Monica Chasten, a project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Philadelphia District’s Operations Division, discusses Engineering With Nature (EWN) and her work and collaboration with other scientists and engineers to advance coastal dredging practices and the beneficial use of dredged material.

Corps of Engineers to begin Keystone Harbor maintenance dredging October 12

Press Operations — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 16:51:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin maintenance dredging in the Federal navigation channel at Keystone Harbor. The contractor, American Construction, will start dredging Oct. 12 and continue for approximately nine weeks.

Indiana Harbor dredging begins

Press Operations — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 14:30:00 GMT

Dredging began at Indiana Harbor yesterday and will continue through the fall of 2020, a continuation of the dredging that stopped in 2019 for the winter season. The contractors, a joint venture with Kokosing Construction Company, Ohio, and O'Brien and Gere, Illinois, will dredge approximately 150,000 to 200,000 cubic yards in 2020. The navigation project consists of a harbor channel ranging in depth from 27 to 29 feet low water datum, and two canals with depths of 22 feet. The project includes the operation and maintenance of the East Chicago, Indiana, confined disposal facility.

Corps of Engineers begins Buffalo Harbor dredging

Press Operations — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 21:11:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District began operations and maintenance (O&M) dredging of the Buffalo Harbor, a commercial deep draft harbor, September 8.

Corps completes dredged material placement at Pancake Point on Puget Island in Washington state

Press Operations — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 22:18:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed dredged material placement at Pancake Point on Puget Island in Washington, Sept. 12, 2020.

Progress continues on damaged Lower Missouri River Navigation Channel

Press Operations — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 16:12:00 GMT

The Kansas City District is currently performing multiple tasks to address priority areas of concern and the damages to river structures that have accumulated during the nearly three years of high water. The district is using all available resources to include a combination of contractors, including one for emergency dredging, and our in-house floating plant to repair flood damaged structures and improve channel conditions.

District awards $15.4 Mil contract to dredge Freeport Lower Stauffer Reach channel

Press Operations — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 20:35:00 GMT

GALVESTON, Texas – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District awarded a contract in the amount of $15,494,310 to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, LLC for the first phase of the Freeport Harbor Channel Improvement Project.

PUBLICATION NOTICE: Utilizing Stream Flows to Forecast Dredging Requirements

Press Operations — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 15:05:00 GMT

Abstract: In recent years, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has spent an average of approximately a billion dollars annually for navigation channel maintenance dredging. To execute these funds effectively, USACE districts must determine which navigation channels are most in need of maintenance dredging each year. Traditionally, dredging volume estimates for Operations and Maintenance budget development are based on experiential knowledge and historic averages, with the effects of upstream, precipitation-driven streamflows considered via general-rule approximations. This study uses the Streamflow Prediction Tool, a hydrologic routing model driven by global weather forecast ensembles, and dredging records from the USACE Galveston District to explore relationships between precipitation-driven inland channel flow and subsequent dredged volumes in the downstream coastal channel reaches. Spatially based regression relationships are established between cumulative inland flows and dredged volumes. Results in the test cases of the Houston Ship Channel and the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Texas indicate useful correlations between the computed streamflow volumes and recorded dredged volumes. These relationships are stronger for channel reaches farther inland, upstream of the coastal processes that are not included in the precipitation-driven hydrologic model.

PUBLICATION NOTICE: Sediment Sorting by Hopper Dredging and Pump-Out Operations: Sampling Methods and Analysis

Press Operations — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 14:38:00 GMT

Abstract: Hopper dredging operations for beach and nearshore placement typically include periods of overflow, which produces some degree of separation between the size fractions of the dredged sediment. The degree of separation and the controlling factors are presently poorly known. This report focuses on laboratory experiments aimed at determining (1) suitable sampling methods on a dredge, (2) composite sampling techniques to reduce analysis cost, (3) associated sampling intervals to achieve suitable sediment representation of a hopper load, and (4) a hydraulic means of sample splitting. Results showed that no statistical difference exists among the three methods used to sample the hopper weir overflow. The method used to sample deposited hopper sediment identified a bias in the percent fines that resulted from flow sheltering. Further, it was found that composited samples were able to quantify the concentration and percent fines accurately, although an analytical data experiment showed that the accuracy of a composited sample is dependent on the sampling intervals. The accuracy of the fines and concentration from a hydraulic sample splitter was found to be dependent on median grain size, with fine sediment being evenly distributed and coarser sediment increasing the error in concentration and grain size distribution.

Michigan company to dredge Ontonagon Harbor

Press Operations — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 13:14:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, awarded a contract for Ontonagon Harbor maintenance dredging about 140 miles east of Duluth, Minnesota, on the south shore of Lake Superior. USACE awarded a maintenance dredging contract for Ontonagon Harbor in August to MCM Marine Inc., out of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The contract (award number W911XK20C0016) was for $725,500 to dredge 84,000 cubic yards of material from Ontonagon Harbor. Material from the dredging sites will be placed east of the harbor to nourish the shoreline. This will help address issues of beach erosion and lake encroachment, especially during the current period of high water.

Wisconsin company to dredge Duluth-Superior Harbor

Press Operations — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 15:44:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, awarded a contract for dredging at Duluth-Superior Harbor in western Lake Superior on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border. The more than $2 million contract was awarded to Roen Salvage Co., from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The contract (award number W911XK20C0014) is to dredge approximately 120,000 cubic yards of material from the harbor. Approximately 52,000 cubic yards of the mostly sandy material will be placed along North Minnesota Point shoreline and approximately 68,000 cubic yards of material will be placed at Interstate Island. Dredging will begin in August and will be complete by mid-November.

Corps’ Detroit office awards dredging contract for Holland Harbor

Press Operations — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 18:12:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, recently awarded a contract for dredging in western Michigan, on Lake Michigan. The Corps awarded a maintenance dredging contract for Holland (Outer) Harbor in June to Luedtke Engineering Company from Frankfort, Michigan. The contract (award number W911 XK20C0012) was for more than $455,000 to dredge almost 49,000 cubic yards of material from Holland (Outer) Harbor. Material from the site will be placed near the shoreline in the most landward eight foot depth starting north of the breakwater. “This important work will keep the shipping channel open as part of the Great Lakes Navigation System as an economically and environmentally viable means of transporting commodities,” said Bob Jarema, project manager.

Savannah harbor deepening sets precedent; four dredges in harbor simultaneously

Press Operations — Sun, 31 May 2020 17:43:00 GMT

The deepening of the Savannah harbor has set a new precedent with four dredges in the harbor

Corps proposes maintenance dredging of Wood Island and Pool at Biddeford Federal navigation project in Maine

Press Operations — Fri, 15 May 2020 20:00:00 GMT

CONCORD, Mass. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District is proposing to perform

Army Corps announces signing of Chief’s Report for New Jersey study

Press Operations — Thu, 14 May 2020 01:21:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District announces that Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, USACE Commanding General and the 54th U.S. Army Chief of Engineers, has signed the Chief’s Report for the “New Jersey Beneficial Use of Dredged Material for the Delaware River Feasibility Study” — a significant milestone for the proposed project. The signing of the report advances the project to Congress for authorization.

Army Corps work set to resume on Fire Island, NY & Monmouth County, NJ Coastal Storm Risk Reduction Projects

Press Operations — Thu, 07 May 2020 16:02:00 GMT

NEW YORK – Two commercial hopper dredges that deployed to Florida to support emergency beach renourishment work at USACE’s Jacksonville District in March 2020 are returning to NY and NJ to complete previously contracted work. The B.E. LINDHOLM arrived at Fire Island on May 6 and is completing final preparations to begin work, while the MAGDALEN will arrive on or about May 15. B.E. LINDHOLM is expected to begin work on the Point O' Woods and Ocean Bay Park portions of the Fire Island Inlet to Moriches Inlet Coastal Storm Risk Reduction Project (FIMI). FIMI is scheduled to be completed by June 19, 2020. Once work is complete on FIMI, the MAGDALEN will transit to Monmouth County, N.J. to complete its beach renourishment contract

PUBLICATION NOTICE: Analysis of Nearshore Placement of Sediments at Ogden Dunes, Indiana

Press Operations — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 18:25:00 GMT

ABSTRACT: The harbor structures/shoreline armoring on the southern Lake Michigan shoreline interrupt sand migration. Ogden Dunes, Indiana, and the nearby Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore observed shoreline erosion due to engineered structures associated with Burns Waterway Harbor (east of Ogden Dunes) impeding natural east-to-west sediment migration. To remedy this, USACE placed over 450,000 cubic meters (m3) of dredged material post-2006 in the nearshore of Ogden Dunes. However, the effectiveness of nearshore placements for shoreline protection and littoral nourishment is not fully established. To improve nearshore placement effectiveness, USACE monitored the June/July 2016 placement and subsequent movement of 107,000 m3 of dredged material in the nearshore region at Ogden Dunes. This involved an extensive monitoring scheme (three bathymetry surveys, and two acoustic Doppler current profiler deployments), a Coastal Modeling System (CMS) numerical model of the changes following placement, and a prediction of sediment transport direction using the Sediment Mobility Tool (SMT). The SMT-predicted sediment migration direction was compared to observations. Observations indicated that between 10/11/2016 and 11/15/2016 the centroid of the sediment above the pre-placement survey moved 17 m onshore. These observations agreed with SMT predictions — onshore migration under storm and typical wave conditions. CMS accurately reproduced the hydrodynamic features.

Despite the current COVID-19 climate, Corps of Engineers nears 10 Million Cubic Yard milestone in Boston Harbor Improvement Dredging Project

Press Operations — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 14:30:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New England District is nearing the milestone of removing 10 million cubic yards of dredge material as part of Phase II of the three-phased Boston Harbor Navigation Improvement Project in Boston, Massachusetts.