The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Baltimore District has just announced that dredging works on upper portion of the Wicomico River are moving ahead, ensuring that the vessels can continue safely carrying fuel, materials and agricultural supplies to and from Eastern Shore communities.
USACE awarded an approximately $3.4 million contract to Cottrell Contracting out of Chesapeake, Virginia to conduct the work.
Under the project, their dredger will remove roughly 100,000 cubic yards of material from the channel to ensure continued safe navigation along the federal channel.
According to USACE, this dredging will focus on shoaled areas in the approximately 6 miles of the river north from the Upper Ferry crossing to the City of Salisbury, Maryland.
The dredging operations are coordinated with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the material, mostly silt and sand, will be placed at the nearby Sharps Point Site as during past dredging. The placement site is owned by Wicomico County.
The work is scheduled to be completed this winter.