Commercial shipping into Waukegan Harbor is expected to resume next month as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes a dredging project.
According to suntimes.com, Waukegan Port District Executive Director Duncan Henderson said Tuesday that dredging of the channel entrance, which began in mid-June, is “ supposed to be completed in the next couple of weeks, so it should be open for ships by early August.”
The closure situation was affected by a lack of Army Corps funds dedicated to dredge work, but $788,040 was designated in February for the channel project. In late May, a contract for $509,500 was awarded to Morrish-Wallace Construction, Inc. of Cheboygan, Mich.
According to a project summary issued earlier this year by the Army Corps, crews will remove 30,000 cubic yards of sand to produce a depth of at least 22 feet. Disposal was proposed for a spot one mile south of the harbor that has been used the last two times the area has been dredged.
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Dredging Today Staff, July 12, 2012; Image: rybamarine