The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, in coordination with the Port of San Diego, will perform maintenance dredging in a portion of the federal channel at the southern end of San Diego Bay beginning mid-February.
The purpose of the work is to re-establish authorized channel depths of -35 Mean Lower Low Water, or MLLW. The channel hasn’t been dredged since 1976. Curtin Maritime Corporation of Long Beach, California, was awarded the $2.9 million contract to perform the work, which will be done with a clamshell dredge. Estimated time of completion is March 31.
The area that will be dredged is about 5,700 feet in length and nearly 96 acres, adjacent to the National City Marine Terminal and Sweetwater Channel, and is located about three nautical miles southeast of the San Diego-Coronado Bridge.
About 240,000 cubic yards of sediment will be removed from the channel, with about 175,000 cubic yards being disposed of at the LA-5 Ocean Dredge Material Disposal Site, located six nautical miles southwest of the entrance of San Diego Bay. The remaining 65,000 cubic yards of sand will be taken to the Coronado Nearshore Placement Site to nourish the adjacent Silver Strand State Beach. Placement of beach-quality material along the shoreline is a beneficial byproduct of the maintenance dredging project.
Additionally, the Corps and the Port are coordinating with the U.S. Navy to ensure placement of the sand doesn’t impede ongoing military operations.
