Indiana Harbor and Canal Dredging on the Way

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and East Chicago Waterway Management District will hold a public meeting to present this year’s Indiana Harbor and Canal dredging schedule and activities.

The meeting takes place on Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at the City Hall, Annex Building, 4444 Railroad Ave., East Chicago, Ind.

The contractors, a joint venture with Kokosing Construction Company, Ohio and O’Brien and Gere, Illinois, will dredge approximately 175,000 cubic yards this dredge cycle.

Over the next few years, the entire federal channel will be dredged to congressionally-authorized navigation depths, including the removal of sediments in adjacent berthing and docking areas at a nonfederal expense.

The navigation project consists of a harbor channel ranging in depth from 27 to 29 feet low water datum, and two canals with depths of 22 feet.

The project includes the operation and maintenance of the East Chicago, Ind., confined disposal facility.

Since 2012, over 1.4 million cubic yards of sediment has been removed from the waterway and confined, greatly reducing the contaminants that had previously been washing into Lake Michigan, and improving the efficiency of deep draft commercial navigation.