The dredging work on the nearly 12-mile section of the Delaware River between the Walt Whitman Bridge and the Philadelphia International Airport began this week.
On Sunday, the 220-foot dredging vessel “Illinois” started the process of deepening the mentioned section of the river from 40 feet to 45 feet.
“The real action takes place a few feet beneath the river bed ,” explained Tony DePasquale, chief of operations for the Philadelphia district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers .
Newsworks.org reports that Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum was among those who sued to stop the dredging, on the grounds that it would hurt the sensitive ecology of the river.
The completion of the entire 102-mile deepening project is expected by 2017.
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Dredging Today Staff, September 13, 2012