Dredging works kick off near Winona

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is scheduled to begin dredging the Mississippi River navigation channel near Winona, Minnesota, this week to ensure the channel remains open for commercial navigation.

The project will remove around 27,000 cubic yards of river sand from the navigation channel between river miles 720.1 – 720.8 and will be placing it at the Homer Beneficial Use Site, south of Winona. Additional dredging requirements may be needed based on conditions.

Around 45,000 cubic yards of sand previously placed at the Homer site was removed this past winter and beneficially used for an economic development project in Winona’s Technology Park Area.

Paul Machajewski, St. Paul District dredged material manager, said that the beneficial reuse of river sand is a win-win-win solution for the Corps of Engineers.

“Helping communities develop solutions for their construction fill needs, while building additional storage capacity and maintaining the navigation channel is the goal of our program,” said Machajewski.

“Collectively, these solutions save tax dollars while also ensuring the navigation channel remains viable for producers wanting to ship agricultural products on the river.”

Machajewski said that the Corps anticipates dredging activities will last around five weeks.