Posted on June 28, 2023
KANKAKEE — The long-awaited dredging of the Kankakee River at the Aroma Park boat launch will have to wait just a little while longer.
It was hopeful that the dredging to remove the build up of sand and sediment in that area of the river could take place this year. However, as earlier reported, a mussel survey must first be completed before work can begin.
Tentatively, the dredging will take place in April of 2024, according to a presentation by Charlie Dewes at Thursday’s Highways and Waterways Committee of the Kankakee County Board.
“This area of the Kankakee River had a couple of scientific reports that were done more than a decade ago that detected a mussel called the sheepnose mussel,” Dewes said. “Unfortunately for us, that mussel is federally protected. So we have to go to the river and comb the area around our channel. … We basically have to comb that area along … to see if there’s any of these sheepnose mussels.”
DREDGING IN APRIL?
If no mussels are found in the area as anticipated, then Burke Engineering will submit its report and a permit to do the work in July to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Dewes said the Army Corps of Engineers typically takes three to four months for a review.
“We have anticipated by the end of the year we would acquire our permits for dredging the river,” he said. “And then we would get our bid documents ready with the final construction plan at the start of the year.”
Dewes said the bidding process would be done in February and March, and a contractor would be mobilized to perform the dredging in April of 2024.
“We’re still on track with that timeline,” he said.
If mussels are found in the area, then they would have to be moved to another area of the river before dredging could begin.
An earlier site study by Burke Engineering determined that 8,000 to 10,000 cubic yards of sand will have to be removed from the area immediately surrounding the boat launch.
The boat launch is located in the Kankakee Valley Park District’s Potowatomi Park at South Division and West Front streets in Aroma Park.
“You can’t even get rescue boats into that part of the river,” noted County Board Chairman Andy Wheeler.
The project by Burke Engineering, which was announced in September of 2022, is being paid for by a $1 million secured from the state by State Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Essex. It’s all part of a bigger picture to make the Kankakee River more navigable and more of a recreational resource for Kankakee County.
Joyce also helped secure a $7 million state grant for the county that will be administered through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to purchase heavy equipment to maintain the river. The work will be done by the county’s highway department.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Joyce said. “We’ve got 100 years of sand coming from Indiana.”
Wheeler added that it’s not an overall fix to the sediment situation, and he said Indiana is working on stopping the sediment coming into Illinois through a long-term effort. There’s a 40-year workplan that has been developed, and it can be viewed at kankakeeandyellowrivers.org.
“Indiana has helped push us into doing something,” Joyce said. “They’re doing a lot of mitigation, bank stabilization and solving the erosion problems that are coming towards us. So when we were able to secure some money from the state and the budget for this, the initial conversations were how do we leverage that for long term on one of the best resources that Kankakee County has?
“… So purchasing the equipment at the beginning is going to afford us so many opportunities to do a lot of the work ourselves which is going to ultimately save money.”
State Rep. Jackie Haas, R-Bourbonnais, was also at the committee meeting to voice her support for the ongoing project. She said she was born and raised along the river in Momence and takes pride in that.
“I look forward to continuing to work on the local level and on the state level and with the board here to make this the highlight of our district,” she said.
