Engineer OKs Miss. River deepening

A $237.7 million plan to deepen the main channel of the Mississippi River by five feet to a 50-foot depth, for 256 miles from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico, was recommended for approval this month by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ senior civil engineer James Dalton. He concluded that the 5-foot increase in the river's depth will result in average annual benefits of $127.5M to the nation's economy. Dredging will allow for the larger Panamax vessels that pass through the widened Panama Canal, to reach as far north as Baton Rouge - as long as they fit below the Crescent City Connection Bridge in New Orleans. The final proposal, which must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget and Congress, represents a major expansion from the December 2016 tentative public plan. Congress must find funding for the project over future budgets. The project will deepen the main shipping channel an extra five feet as it passes through four of the nation's top 15 ports measured by tonnage: Plaquemines Port’s Harbor and Terminal District; Port of New Orleans; Port of South Louisiana; and Port of Greater Baton Rouge. Those ports handle more than 500M tons of cargo annually, including 60 percent of the nation's grain, and connected to 14,500 miles of inland waterways. In his approval memo, Dalton wrote that the project will now cost $237.7M compared to the 2016 estimate of $88.9M. Dalton’s memo was sent to R.D. James, assistant secretary of the Army for public works, on Aug. 3. (Source: NOLA.com 08/2018)