Posted on October 11, 2023
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says that more than 3,000 tires have been hauled out of the Schuylkill during the second phase of a dredge project aimed at clearing the river of muck for rowers. The illegally dumped debris may cause additional delays for the $13 million project that began in 2020.
Dredgit, the Army Corp’s contractor completed a first phase of the dredge in front of Boathouse Row in October 2022, and removed 28,000 cubic yards of sediment. Dredgit disposed of the sediment at Fort Mifflin on the Delaware River.
The Texas-based company began the second phrase of the project in mid-July, dredging along the Schuylkill National Course and Adaptive Rowing Lagoon, which are upriver from Boathouse Row. Almost immediately, it began pulling tires out of the river, some of which are large tractor and truck tires.
“During dredging operations, USACE’s contractor began pulling numerous tires out of the river north of the Strawberry Mansion Bridge,” said Army Corps spokesperson Steve Rochette in an email. “Initially, the team wasn’t certain if this was an isolated area, but it has continued throughout multiple areas along the Race Course and has prevented dredging operations to continue as originally planned.”
The Army Corps has “not finalized our path forward at this time,” Rochette said.
A map of the second phase of a project to dredge the Schuylkill river for rowers. The second phase includes the famed National Racecourse.
Dredge plagued by problems
Most of the tires were found just above and below Strawberry Mansion Bridge, though some were found at other points throughout the dredging area. Army Corps officials have been in touch with the city’s Streets Department over how to handle the tires, which are being contained in a staging area where they are drying before a contractor can haul them away.
Rochette said the Army Corps has worked with Dredgit to properly dispose of the tires and is coordinating with city officials and the Schuylkill Navy, an association of amateur rowing clubs that pushed for the river to be dredged because it was fearful the increasingly shallow river would impact races.
The Army Corps has also coordinated with the Philadelphia Police Department’s environmental crimes unit, which investigates illegal dumping.
Atlantic Subsea, a contractor from Bridgeton, N.J. that handled the first phase of the dredge in front of Boathouse Row, halted work in November 2020, saying it had found too much debris. The company wanted more than the $4.5 million initially raised by the rowers, city, and universities with rowing teams. The Army Corps refused and the deal collapsed, leaving officials to seek another contractor — and come up with millions more to continue.
The second phase called for money to dredge along the 2,000-meter National Race Course that parallels Kelly Drive. Army Corps officials came up with millions more from the federal government to restart the project.
Schuylkill Navy officials said Tuesday that removing the tires is a slow process because Dredgit has to use a machine with a claw to dip down and retrieve the tires. The Schuylkill Navy had hoped the dredge would be finished in time for this weekend’s Navy Day Regatta hosted by St. Joseph’s University, or by the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta scheduled for the last weekend of October.
Now, the hope is that the dredge can be finished by the end of November when the contractor is due at another location.
File: Texas-based Dredgit pumping muck from the north side of Schuylkill river and loading onto a barge below Spring Garden Bridge in 2022.
Extra cost
Bonnie Mueller, commodore of the Schuylkill Navy, said she expects all lanes in the race course will be uniform and usable for a slate of upcoming regattas.
Mueller said the fall regatta season is robust and could bring a record number of participants and spectators to the river. She credits the city, Army Corps, and Dredgit for working so well with the Schuylkill Navy throughout the process. The current issue with the dredging has no impact on racing, she said, because equipment gets moved out of the way.
She sees the discovery of the tires as a positive, since they will result in a major — if unintended — cleanup of the river. However, she worries their removal could mean the full restoration of the racecourse might not be completed and could require more money.
“The extra cost associated with these tires is an expense that we as a rowing community did not create, and it will result in a likely reduction in scope for the intended purpose of these funds, which is a full restoration of the national racecourse,” Mueller said. “This seems to be a bigger municipal issue than just the restoration of the racecourse. This is bigger than us. So I think a bigger group of individuals and parties should be coming together to solve it.”
Mueller said that if Dredgit cannot complete all the work by November, she expects that the rowing community will once again come together to attempt to complete the river’s full restoration.
Over the long term, the racecourse could be at risk if the full dredge isn’t complete, she said.
“We will look forward to races on the Schuylkill for the short term, immediate future,” Mueller said. “The Schuylkill Navy will not give up this intended quest to complete this project to its full execution.”
Gardner Cadwalader, a former champion Penn rower who competed in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, has followed the fits and starts of the dredge project.
“It has always been a wonder what we find in and floating down the Schuylkill,” Cadwalader said. “3,000 car tires is the newest geological feature of our dear old river.”
