$4 billion Chesapeake Bay restoration project signed by Army Corps, MDOT

MARYLAND- A new $4 billion dollar partnership between MDOT and the Baltimore branch of the Army Corps of Engineers promises to clean up shipping channels while restoring and protecting barrier islands in Dorchester County.

Phase one would include Barren Island, building stone barriers to prevent erosion and to help build the underwater ecosystem, while phase two would work to restore and protect James Island.

The plan would also allow for more dredging of the Chesapeake Bay Channel, and deposit the materials at the islands to help further grow the ecosystem and protect the local wildlife.

“It helps us restore over 2,000 acres of remote island habitat on James Island and 7,200 on Baron Island, so it has great environmental attributes and quite frankly dredging the port that is our highway system,” said Maryland Transportation Secretary Jim Ports. 

 “The current state of the islands is that they are getting swept away from aggressive wave action and erosion so we wrap it in stone sills and reduce wave energy and to help the submerged ecosystem,” said USACE Civil Works Manager Trevor Cyran.

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.

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, providing more than 40 years of capacity to place almost 100 million cubic yards of dredged material.