Posted on February 18, 2019
James H. Wallace/Times-Dispatch
Crews from Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities began dredging the Haxall Canal that runs along Richmond’s riverfront in January, and work is on schedule to end by May 1.
It’s the first extensive dredging of the canal in 10 years, said department spokeswoman Angela Fountain.
The canal is regularly cleaned, which is why crews have found very little debris aside from the sediment that flows in from the James River and settles in the waterway, Fountain said. The dredging will allow DPU personnel to better control water flow in the canal between the western edge of Brown’s Island and 12th Street, she said.
“This is from an aesthetics standpoint as well as a functional standpoint,” said Fountain, describing the purpose of the project.
There have no problems and the project is on time to finish before the spring lineup of events on Brown’s Island, including Dominion Energy Riverrock planned for May 17-19.
The canal was drained last summer, allowing city officials to inspect it ahead of the dredging project. That helped workers estimate how much sediment would need to be removed from the waterway.
One of the bridge entrances to Brown’s Island, closest to the American Civil War Museum at Historic Tredegar, has been closed off as a staging area for equipment. The canal walk and pedestrian bridges at Fifth and Seventh streets as well as access to the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge remain open.
Source: richmond.com
