The USACE Baltimore District said today that maintenance dredging operations on the North East River federal navigation channel are expected to begin this week, on or about October 29 or 30, weather permitting.
The start of these operations follows a recent award of $4,247,000 contract to Dredgit Corp of Houston, Texas, to address critical shoaling. The Northeast River serves as a vital gateway, providing essential access to the Chesapeake Bay and supporting approximately 10 local marinas and 300 maritime jobs, delivering an estimated economic impact of $35 million per year to local maritime commerce, USACE said.
The maintenance dredging is scheduled to remove approximately 95,000 cubic yards of dredged material from the federal channel. The dredged material taken from the channel will be hydraulically placed at the Cecil County-owned Stony Run Dredged Material Placement site in North East, Maryland.
The North East River was last dredged in 1999, when approximately 37,000 cubic yards of material was removed from the river and placed at the current upland placement site located in North East.
Maintenance dredging is required to address shoaling and to restore the channel to its authorized depth of seven feet.
Due to Time-of-Year environmental restrictions, the maintenance dredging cycle is expected to conclude on or before February 14, 2027.