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St. Paul, MN 55101

Phone: (651) 290-5807
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Corps is performing emergency dredging to reopen the Mississippi River navigation channel

Published July 24, 2014

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is preparing to dredge in two separate areas within the Mississippi River to reopen the 9-foot navigation channel to commercial navigation.

The Corps and its contractors will begin dredging tomorrow, July 25, near Winona, Minn., in Pool 6 from river mile 718 to 724. The Corps is already dredging in Pool 4, near Alma, Wis., at river mile 754. High flows from the June floods caused dredge material to fill areas within the channel. The Corps needs to remove the material to reestablish the required 9-foot river depth needed for navigation.

The Corps hopes to have the area near Alma reopened tomorrow evening, July 25, and anticipates opening the area near Winona on Tuesday, July 29 with a 100-foot wide pilot channel. The Corps hopes to widen the channel to 200 feet by Aug. 2.  

At this time, the dredged material will be placed at various placement sites along the river. The Corps may need to explore additional material placement options should future dredging requirements become necessary.

The nearly 650 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2011 $175 million budget, nearly 2,800 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $271 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

 

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Release no. 14-073