Work Begins On Mobile Ship Channel

The Alabama State Port Authority in Mobile recently announced the kickoff of Alabama’s seaport modernization program to deepen and widen the Mobile Ship Channel and improve the lower harbor turning basin by 2025. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has executed two construction contracts in a multiphase, $365.7-million construction program engineered and designed to deepen the existing bar, bay and river channels by 5 ft each to a final depth of 50 ft. The project also includes widening the Bay Channel by 100 ft for 3 nautical mi. to accommodate two-way vessel traffic and other safety improvements. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. is performing the work, which involves using hopper and mechanical (bucket) dredges over the next 18 months. It is also planned to begin with the second construction phase, to dredge approximately 2.2 mi. of the bar channel with hopper dredges, in approximately a month.