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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to perform advance maintenance dredging project in Barcelona Harbor, NY.
In recent years, the harbor has experienced extreme shoaling. Wave action is pushing littoral sediment over the west breakwater and into the navigation channel. It is now common for shoals to build up over eight feet above the water surface due to this wave action.
The quantity of littoral sediment is dependent on the amount of ice cover on Lake Erie throughout the winter, and the intensity and wind direction of storm events.
The scope of this work includes routine maintenance dredging, with an expansion of the area and depth that is dredged to maintain the federal navigation channel.
It is proposed that the scope of the maintenance dredging extend one-foot deeper than the authorized depths and extend ten feet wider than the authorized limits along the western limits of the channel.
These expanded limits are proposed as “Advance Maintenance” dredge areas in accordance with USACE Engineering Regulation 1130-2-520, which states that: “Advance maintenance dredging, to a specified depth and/or width, may be performed in critical and/or fast-shoaling areas to avoid frequent re-dredging and ensure the least overall cost of maintaining the project”.
Advance maintenance dredging in critical channel areas may increase the time before the channel requires maintenance again by two years.