Posted on February 22, 2016
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District, announces additions to its fiscal year 2016 program, based on the recently approved work plan.
This additional $22.4 million will be used to repair breakwaters, dredge harbors and complete various projects throughout the Great Lakes, one being a new $850,000 dredging project in Alpena’s Thunder Bay River.
There are no current issues with the river, this is just a maintenance project to keep it at least 21 feet deep.
So, they will dig where the water ends and the dirt starts, removing 30 to 40 thousand cubic yards of sediment, to deepen the levels.
This will allow big cargo ships to be able to travel to and from Alpena without worrying if it’s too shallow.
In previous years, some factories shut down, because they couldn’t get a ship to come in anymore because it was too shallow. So, moving forward with this project will be very beneficial.
“The Great Lakes is more than just the Thunder Bay and Lake Huron and the Thunder Bay River. The Great Lakes go all over the place and it doesn’t do you a lot of good to have nice deep water in 6 of the 8 places we want to go. So it’s important to keep them all maintained to the same depth, so a shipping company knows if they’re going to Alpena, or Rogers City, Duluth, Minnesota, New York, wherever they’re going, they know they’re going to have the depth to get the boat in without getting stuck,” Alpena Harbormaster / Building Official Don Gilmet said.
Right Alpena City Engineering Department is working on finding a place to put all the sediment that will be dug up.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District wants this project complete before October of 2016.
