The Port of San Diego and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Los Angeles District) are collaborating on a dredging project in the federal channel in the southern part of San Diego Bay. The work is expected to begin this month.
As reported by The Log, the channel to be dredged is three nautical miles southeast of the Coronado Bay Bridge and near National City Marine Terminal and Sweetwater Channel. It will be the first time the channel near the Chula Vista/National City border has been dredged since 1976.
There are three marinas in the area, Pier 32 Marina in National City and two facilities at Chula Vista Harbor. The engineers hope to have the work done by the end of March.
Long Beach-based Curtin Maritime was awarded the contract and will be paid $2.9 million to complete the work.
The Corps of Engineers estimates that 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, six nautical miles southwest of the entrance to San Diego Bay. The remaining 65,000 cubic yards of sand will be taken to a Coronado near-shore placement site to nourish the adjacent Silver Strand State Beach.
A separate dredging project will also take place in northern San Diego, where sand will be removed from the entrance of Oceanside harbor to replenish the city’s beaches.
