|
Corps details plan to
open river mouth
Published January 27,
2008
BRAZORIA — The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers dug deep into its coffers
and found the funds to increase the size of
a planned channel to open the San Bernard
River mouth.
Senior Corps officials updated their $4.5
million plan Friday before a crowd in the
Brazoria Civic Center. The project will
include dredging a channel 100 feet wide and
10 feet deep to open the blocked river mouth
to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Corps will award the contract in
September and start the 45- to 60-day
project in the next month, according to
their tentative schedule.
The project will be paid for under the
operations and management part of the Corps
budget, Corps Galveston District commander
Col. David Weston said.
“We turned the key in the lock, and it gave
us a great opportunity to attack this
project,” Weston said.
The primary reason for the Corps’ interest
in opening the San Bernard is alleviating
the fast flow of water at the Brazos River
floodgates, he said. After silt choked off
the San Bernard from the Gulf, the river was
funneled through the Intracoastal Waterway
and into the Brazos River, creating a
dangerously violent current at the narrow
floodgates.
“What we are hearing from barge operators is
they are having trouble crossing the river,”
said Ben Boren, Corps operations manager.
“It’s a navigation safety hazard.”
Weston said in a typical shipping cycle, it
is common to have an average of 35 ship
collisions in a waterway. Because of the
combined currents of the San Bernard and
Brazos River meeting at that gate, there are
more than 160, he said.
Area residents and members of the Friends of
the River San Bernard were excited by the
project, but for different reasons. Many
look forward to being able to use the San
Bernard for recreational boating, with a
straight shot into gulf waters. There also
might be a reduced flood risk upstream by
the unrestricted flow of the river, said
Nancy Kanter, director of Friends of the
River.
“This is great news, we never realized they
were going to dredge it so deep and wide,”
Kanter said.
The Corps plan goes further than a $300,000
Texas Department of Transporta-tion plan to
dredge a smaller channel. The plan had
called for a channel 50 feet wide and 4 feet
deep.
The state will add an extra $500,000 to help
the Corps project, said Texas Department of
Transportation engineer Scott Sullivan.
Weston said with the Texas agency’s help
they fulfill the Corps’ need for a local
governmental sponsor. He added that it is
better for them to take on the project
rather than the state because they would
spend a large chunk of money just getting a
Corps permit for the underwater work.
“The nice thing about us taking this on is
we don’t have to go through us to get a
permit,” Weston said. “Which is nice because
we’re not easy to get a permit from.”
Hunter Sauls reports for The Facts. Contact
him at (979) 237-0153.
|