Project Updates – September 11, 2008
The Bay City Times reports that dredging of the Upper Saginaw River is set to begin later this month, now that a contract has been awarded for the work.
The river’s navigational channel will be cleared for the first time in more than a decade, Wayne Schloop, chief of operations for the US Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit told the newspaper.
Ships have had to lighten their loads for years on the river, driving up costs and threatening about 200 jobs associated with shipping.
“We did an emergency portion back in 2006, but we haven’t really done any type of comprehensive dredging since the mid-90s on the river,” Schloop said. “It’s been quite a while since we’ve dredged it to the project depth of 21 feet.”
The contract has been awarded to low-bidder Luedtke Engineering of Frankfort for US$1.9 million.
The company plans to begin the dredging by the end of the month and finish it this fall, Schloop said.