Dredging works resumed at Indiana Harbor June 4, 2018, and will continue through fall 2018, a continuation of the dredging that began in September 2017 and stopped November 2017 for the winter season, reports the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District.
The contractors, a joint venture with Kokosing Construction Company, Ohio and O’Brien and Gere, Illinois, will dredge approximately 120,000 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 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.