CoE dredges Mississippi above Lowry Ave. Bridge - Mississippi River – General Discussion - Mississippi River – General Discussion

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

NEWS RELEASE
Aug. 28, 2012
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District
MVP-PA-2012-096
Contacts:
Shannon Bauer: 651-290-5108, 612-840-9453, [email protected]
George Stringham: 651-290-5201, 651-262-6804, [email protected]

Corps of Engineers dredges Mississippi above Lowry Ave. Bridge

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, began dredging the Mississippi River navigation channel north of the Lowry Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis this week.

The navigation channel at this point, which is river mile 856, saw an increase in sedimentation after high water both in early and late spring. It is estimated that 60,000 cubic yards of material will need to be removed. All of the removed material will be placed at the Upper St. Anthony Falls Dredge Placement Site.

LS Marine, Inc., of Vadnais Heights, Minn., will do this work for the Corps. Dredging is expected to take around six weeks.

The St. Paul District’s navigation program provides a safe, reliable, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable waterborne transportation system on the Upper Mississippi River for the movement of commercial goods and for national security needs. To do this, the district maintains a 9-foot navigation channel and 13 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa. Keeping this system open is vital to the nation’s economy. In 2010, 16.2 million tons of commodities were shipped on the Mississippi River within the St Paul District’s area of operation, including 8 million tons of grain grown in the Upper Midwest. The industries making these shipments saved nearly $384 million by using the inland waterways instead of overland shipping methods.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, serves the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. It contributes around $175 million to the five-state district economy. The 700 employees work at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states. For more information, see http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

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