The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District is removing approximately 40,000 cubic yards of sediment/shoals from the authorized limits of the federal navigation channel in the lower reaches of the Buffalo River.
The work, part of the Corps’ regularly scheduled maintenance dredging program, is being performed under a $5,854,360 contract with the Luedtke Engineering Company of Frankfort, Mich. Completion is slated for the end of July.
Dredged sediment will be placed in Confined Disposal Facility #4 adjacent to the former Bethlehem Steel site which was constructed by the Corps for the placement of material that is unsuitable for open-lake placement in Lake Erie.
Last year, the Buffalo River Restoration Partnership, a group consisting of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, Corps of Engineers, the City of Buffalo and Honeywell, Inc., used $4.6 million of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funds, and $1.3 million of the Corps’ operations and maintenance funds to remove approximately 508,000 cubic yards of sediment from the Buffalo River.
Buffalo District Commander Lt. Col. Owen J. Beaudoin said, “ The Buffalo District’s operations and maintenance budget allows our team to continue to deliver great dividends to the region and to the nation by funding those projects that provide the greatest return on investment and improve the resiliency and safety of navigation-related infrastructure .”
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Dredging Today Staff, July 23, 2012; Image: usace