December 31, 2020 By Frank McCormack
While COVID-19 proved the dominant newsmaker for much of 2020, a steady stream of dredging and waterway announcements during the year will, hopefully, have a much more enduring and endearing impact on the maritime industry.
The waterway deepening news started early in the year, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 2020 work plan, released February 10. The work plan, remarkably, included both funding for the first phase of deepening the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge, La., to the Gulf of Mexico to 50 feet and more than $274 million to fully fund the construction of the Mobile Harbor channel deepening project in Alabama, which will also bring that channel to 50 feet.
>Ceremonial photographs from 2020 looked a little different from past years, thanks to the mask-wearing and social-distancing. But the COVID-19 precautions didn’t take anything away from the significance of this event: on July 31, Mississippi Valley Division Engineer Maj. Gen. Dianna Holland, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and New Orleans District Engineer Col. Stephen Murphy jointly signed a project partnership agreement for the long-awaited deepening of the Lower Mississippi River Ship Channel between Baton Rouge and the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo by Frank McCormack)
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