USACE specialists tour Scarborough dredging

USACE New England District Realty Specialists Craig Martin, Kate Mueller and Tyler Maryak performed a site visit to Scarborough, ME, on January 5, 2024.

This project consists of a maintenance dredge of the Scarborough River Federal Navigation Project that involves the removal of approximately 111,000 cubic yards of sandy material from the river by way of a hydraulic cutterhead pipeline dredge and pumping it through approximately 6,000 ft of pipe for nourishment of Western Beach.

Another purpose of the maintenance dredging project is to meet navigational needs of existing commercial fishing and recreational vessel traffic by maintaining the FNP to authorized dimensions.

Since 2014, coastal storms and natural shoaling have completely blocked off the Entrance Channel at lower stages of the tide and reduced available depths at mid-tide to approximately 3 feet below Mean Lower Low Water in the Main Channel and Anchorage.

This shoaling severely restricts vessel traffic and results in hazardous navigation conditions, said USACE.