Hickman, Kentucky’s Elvis J. Stahr Harbor will receive $625,000 for dredging as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ efforts to improve Mississippi River ports.
Hickman/Fulton County Riverport Authority director Greg Curlin says the funding will allow for dredging about half of the harbor. He says securing funding for dredging is always a battle, but is necessary to keep the harbor navigable and open.
“There’s 10 harbors in [USACE's] Memphis District that have the same issue we do and that’s trying to keep it open,” Curlin said. “It’s like an off-ramp or an on-ramp to a highway, the highway being the Mississippi River. You’ve got to have a place to load your barges and get the materials moving up and down the highway.”
Curlin says the harbor did not receive funding to clear silt and mud in 2013 and sometimes goes two years without being dredged.
“The harbor, when it was created under the River and Harbors Act in 1960, was supposed to be maintained,” Curlin said. “Of course, the Corps has always done that and the Corps has always done the work, but as funding gets tight, they have to look for areas to cut back.”
The harbor, which accommodates as much as 1.4 million in traffic tonnage every year, was shut down for more than a month in 2012 due to a lack of dredging, following flooding and drought conditions. Curlin says President Barack Obama's budget for 2016 currently includes only $15,000 for survey work on the harbor.
Dredging is expected to begin in late July or early August when water levels are low.
