St. Joseph To Pay For Extra Dredging

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Extra dredging is being done this week in the St. Joseph outer harbor thanks to action by the St. Joseph City Commission on Sunday. The body held a rare weekend meeting to authorize the reimbursement of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for more than 7,300 cubic yards of extra sand to be dredged from the St. Joseph River and to be placed along the shoreline south of Park Street. City Manager John Hodgson tells WSJM News this is in addition to dredging the Army Corps was already doing, increasing it by about 25%. The work will expand the available beach in the area.

“It’s just south of Silver Beach where can start placing it, and then they’ll place it along the shoreline going south,” Hodgson said. “They expect that it’ll end beyond Second Street approaching the Third Street right of way, and then the additional 25% from the city participating in the project will hopefully take that to closer to Fourth Street.”

Hodgson notes the extra beach created by the additional dredging will be temporary.

“It washes away, it moves offshore, but even when it’s no longer on the beach, when it’s in the near shore environment, it’s still breaking waves, it’s absorbing wave energy, and it’s protecting the shoreline.”

Hodgson said the Army Corps is to begin its local dredging program any day now. The cost for the city to add the extra 25% is $66.000.