<\/p>\n
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, and the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) signed a Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) for the $4 billion Mid-Chesapeake Bay ecosystem restoration project at MDOT Headquarters, August 23, 2022.<\/p>\n
The PPA \u2013 signed by Col. Estee Pinchasin, Baltimore District commander, and MDOT Secretary James F. Ports, Jr. \u2013 outlines the roles, responsibilities, and financial obligations for both partners for the restoration of both James and Barren islands in Dorchester County, beneficially re-using material dredged from the Port of Baltimore approach channels and the Honga River, respectively.<\/p>\n
The first contract for phase one on Barren Island is anticipated for award in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to sign this agreement signifying \u2018all systems go\u2019 for this critically important project that will provide so many environmental benefits for Maryland,\u201d said Maryland Transportation Secretary Ports. \u201cRebuilding James and Barren islands will promote wildlife, restore coastal shorelines, and provide us with a long-term placement site for dredged material from port shipping channels, allowing us to accommodate larger ships bringing more cargo and business to Maryland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every year, USACE dredges nearly five million cubic yards of material from the channels and anchorages serving the Port of Baltimore to maintain current depths and widths for safe navigation. Once the material is removed, it must be contained or disposed of in an environmentally conscious manner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this project, we hope to build upon the success of Poplar Island,\u201d said Pinchasin. “The habitat we restored and created using dredged material is flourishing. We are proud to partner again with the Maryland Department of Transportation\u2019s Port Administration and employ innovative solutions that benefit the Chesapeake Bay\u2019s ecosystem today and will do so for generations to come.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very excited to work closely with Col. Pinchasin and her outstanding team at the Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, on this legacy initiative,\u201d said Maryland Port Administration-Port of Baltimore Executive Director William P. Doyle. \u201cThe Mid-Bay project is the next frontier for coastal and island restoration. It will give us dredged sediment placement capacity for 30 years and strengthen the shoreline of Dorchester County.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mid-Bay project includes restoration of 2,072 acres of lost remote island habitat on James Island and 72 acres of remote island habitat on Barren Island. Habitat may include submerged aquatic vegetation, mudflat, low marsh, high marsh, islands, ponds, channels, and upland areas.<\/p>\n
USACE received more than $80 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to complete the design and preconstruction activities for this project, to include the first construction contract award.<\/p>\n
Based on the current schedule, Barren Island may start to accept dredged material as early as 2024 with James Island accepting in approximately 2030, after sill and dike construction efforts to hold the material are completed at each location. The Mid-Bay project is anticipated to be completed in 2067 \u2013 providing more than 40 years of capacity to place almost 100 million cubic yards of dredged material.<\/p>\n
Poplar Island, the ongoing ecosystem restoration project by USACE and MDOT MPA, wrapped up construction of an expansion effort in January 2021. The expansion provides substantial ecosystem benefits and additional dredge material capacity for the approach channels to the Port of Baltimore until 2032.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, and the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) signed a Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) for the $4 billion Mid-Chesapeake Bay ecosystem restoration project at MDOT Headquarters, August 23, 2022. The PPA \u2013 signed by Col. Estee Pinchasin, Baltimore District commander, and MDOT Secretary James F. Ports, Jr. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/31385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}