Posted on June 19, 2024
The dredging material from the Alabama Port Authority’s ship channel deepening and widening project will be used in Dauphin Island.
With the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Mobile Harbor Modernization Project started in 2021 with the goal of deepening and widening the existing bar, bay and river channel bar by five feet each, reaching a final depth of 50 feet.
According to John Driscoll, director of the Alabama Port Authority, this $360 million project will do more than widen and deepen the ship channel.
“When there’s more commerce, there’s more revenue that’s generated, there’s more job opportunities,” Driscoll said. “One in seven jobs is somehow tied to the port.”
This project will also increase the amount of raw materials, such as steel, that are exported.
“The export of coal, metallurgical coal will grow no doubt, just from the forecast that we get from our customers. And then probably one of the biggest ones that people kind of relate to more in shipping these days is the container side of the business,” he said. “We have been growing substantially and are the fastest growing container port in the United States over the course of the last six years.”
Driscoll said in 2022, the economic impact of the port in Alabama was just shy of $100 billion. That number is expected to go up once the project is finished.
The deepening of the channel stops south of the Bankhead and Wallace tunnels, which means these two means of transportation will not be affected.
The dredging material that is gathered will go towards the Dauphin Island Restoration Project.
According to Mobile County Commissioner Randall Dueitt, the material will be placed between the shoreline and the break waters on Dauphin Island sometime in October.
“Once it is all finished, it is huge for the ship channel of course, but it is huge for us to be partnering with the U.S Corps of Engineers to have somewhere for them to place that material, and also to finish our project here at the Causeway Restoration,” said Dueitt.
With the help of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and state funding, Dueitt said the project, which extends 150,00 tons of break waters from Cedar Point to Bayfront Park, will take the shoreline back in time.
“We are bringing the shoreline back to historical 1920 shoreline here on the Dauphin Island Causeway. Shrimp, oysters, red fish, flounder, speckled trout. So, it is really big for commercial and recreational fishermen alike out here.”
