Big Bend Channel Project Agreement Signed

Port Tampa Bay President and CEO Paul Anderson and Col. Jason Kirk, the Commander and District Engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville District, yesterday signed the Big Bend Channel Project Reimbursement Agreement.

This agreement marks another milestone step toward the deepening and widening of the Big Bend Channel, scheduled for completion in 2019, the Corps said.

Earlier in May, the port was notified by USACE that $9 million in Fiscal Year 2017 federal funds will be allocated toward the $55 million widening and deepening of the port’s Big Bend Channel, in southern Hillsborough County, Florida.

The channel, which connects to the Tampa Harbor main channel, will be deepened from 34 feet to 43 feet and widened from 200 feet to 250 feet.

Overall, the Corps estimates that the expansion dredging is anticipated to generate approximately 4 million cubic yards of dredged material.