New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo yesterday announced that Phase III of the $15 million REDI Regional Dredging Project has started along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.
As part of Phase III, the State is working with local officials in Orleans and Niagara Counties and the Regional Dredging Management Planning Council, to develop long term plans to ensure navigation channels remain open.
The State will assist the counties in the development of a multi-county consortium, which will provide the legal structure for the counties to update, expand and implement an existing Regional Dredging Management Plan to keep the channels operational in the years to come.
“New Yorkers living and working along the shorelines of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River are still recovering from last year’s devastating floods, and this administration is doing everything we can to help them build back stronger than ever before,” Governor Cuomo said.
“By bringing together local governments and providing them with the tools and information necessary to prepare a workable maintenance dredging plan, we are putting in the hard work to safeguard recreational access and ensure these waterways continue generating economic activity that is critical for shoreline communities.”
The objective of the REDI Regional Dredging Project is to provide a comprehensive approach to the ongoing dredging needs for harbor navigation channels that are used primarily for recreational boating and refuge in the region.
Through Phase I and II, this project is tackling the necessary dredging of 20 harbor navigation channels.
During Phase III the State will provide counties with the information they need to update, expand and implement an existing Regional Dredging Management Plan to keep the channels operational in the years to come.