The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, is conducting a dredging project in Shem Creek to dredge the channel back to its former depth.
This allows the shrimping industry in the area to continue to function without hinderance. For this purpose the Corps is employing the dredge Richmond.
The dredge Richmond is 130 feet long, 28 feet wide and has more than 2,000 horsepower of pump and generators installed.
Shem Creek is part of the overall Charleston Harbor project. The Shem Creek portion of the project starts at the end of Sullivan’s Island and runs through Mount Pleasant Channel and makes a right turn into Shem Creek at Haddrells Point and ends at the Coleman Boulevard bridge.
The channel is 90 feet wide and dredged to 12 feet deep.
The ground work for construction of this project began in 2013 with the preparation of the disposal area at Morris Island. The disposal area was thoroughly cleaned and the dikes repaired to accept dredged material from both Shem Creek and the anchorage basin in Charleston Harbor.
The District anticipates removing approximately 160,000 cubic yards of dredged material from Shem Creek and 400,000 CY of dredged material from the anchorage.
“ This is a precision dredging project that requires a lot of public cooperation to ensure that vessels are not in the way of the dredge because there is so little room to maneuver with the channel being so narrow ,” said Lisa Metheney, Deputy District Engineer for Programs and Project Management .
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Press Release, March 24, 2014