Meeting on San Francisco to Stockton Navigation Improvement Project

A public meeting will be held June 11, 2019 from 6pm to 8pm at the Contra Costa County Conservation and Development offices in Martinez, Calif., to discuss the Draft General Reevaluation Report (GRR) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the San Francisco Bay to Stockton Navigation Improvement Project.

USACE photo

The study area is a 13.2 mile length of navigation channel which spans from Central San Francisco Bay to Avon (just east of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge) and includes the Pinole Shoal Channel, and the Bulls Head Reach portion of the Suisun Bay Channel.

According to the Army Corps, although the navigation channels in the study area are authorized to a depth of up to -45 feet mean lower low water (MLLW), the channels are currently maintained to only -35 feet MLLW.

The proposed project includes deepening the existing maintained channel depth of the Pinole Shoal Channel and Bulls Head Reach (Suisun Bay) from -35 feet to -38 feet MLLW, dredging a 2,600 foot sediment trap at Bulls Head Reach with a depth of -42 feet MLLW, plus 2 feet of over depth, leveling the rock outcrop located to the west of Pinole Shoal from a peak of 39.7 ft MLLW to 43 feet MLLW, and using the dredged material at permitted beneficial reuse sites.

The purpose of the public meeting will be to take comments on the draft GRR/EIS and provide an opportunity for the press and the public to speak with Corps officials and ask questions about the project.

The deadline for sending questions and comments is June 24, 2019.