The Army Corps of Engineers just received the federal hurricane supplement money they need, seven months after Irene hit, WWAY News Channel reports.
A channel is an underwater highway that must be dredged to allow safe access for commercial and private boaters.
Ray Bleam , a dredge captain who is working on this dredging project says: “That’s their bread and butter whether they can get out of the inlets or not. If they can’t get out, they’re not making money. It’s affecting the economy. Millions of dollars of the economy flows out of these inlets.”
The boats and money can’t flow in unless the sand is dredged. On an average day, about 5,000 cubic yards, or 500 dump trucks full of sand is taken out of the channel.
Port captain Larry Calame says: “ Dredging in general is valuable to our country and to our infrastructure. An investment in dredging is kind of like an investment to roads .”
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Dredging Today Staff, March 27, 2012;