The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin St. Joseph Harbor emergency dredging early June. The water in the river was as shallow as 13 feet last week when they and Congressman Fred Upton examined it and being that shallow closes the inner harbor to commercial navigation. St. Joseph harbor is a deep draft commercial harbor with stakeholders receiving limestone, sand, gravel, armor stone, cement, slag, salt and petroleum products. Great Lakes Dock & Materials LLC from Muskegon has the contract to dredge around 11,500 cubic yards of material. The contractor will place the dredged material at the Southwest Michigan Regional Airport where it can be made available for beneficial use. The Army Corps anticipates the dredging to be complete by June 21, 2021.
