USA: Corps Presents Mystic River Dredging Plan

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, is proposing maintenance dredging of the Mystic River Federal Navigation Project (FNP) in Groton and Stonington, Conn. The state of Connecticut is the local sponsor for this proposed work and the state is funding this dredging project.

The authorized Federal navigation project consists of a 15-foot channel, 125 feet from the Sound up to the railroad bridge, then 100 feet wide up to the highway bridge (U.S. Route 1); a 12-foot channel above the highway bridge to the upper wharves at the Seaport Museum; a 9-foot by 8.5-acre anchorage in the harbor north of Mason Island; and a 9-foot turning basin above the railroad bridge.

“Approximately 250,000 cubic yards of predominantly silt will be dredged from the Federal navigation project,” said Project Manager Jennifer Flanagan, of the Corps’ New England District, Programs/Project Management Division in Concord, Mass. “The dredging would restore the channels and anchorage area to authorized depths.”

A mechanical dredge using various types of clamshell buckets will remove material from the shoaled portions of the Mystic Federal navigation project and place it into scows that will be towed to either the New London Disposal Site in Long Island Sound or the Rhode Island Sound Disposal Site in Rhode Island Sound.

Dredging and disposal operations are anticipated to last five to seven months. A draft Environmental Assessment for this proposed work has been prepared and is available for review.

Mystic River is located in southeastern Connecticut in New London County, on Fishers Island Sound, the eastern arm of Long Island Sound. The harbor forms the boundary between the towns of Stonington and Groton.

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Press Release, January 29, 2014