The Kent Narrows Channel, one of the Chesapeake Bay?s most popular boating passages, will be dredged to make it safer for boaters.
Natural events such as storms and tides have pushed excess sediment into the channel, making it only 3 feet deep in some places, said Bob Gaudette, director of the Waterway Improvement Program for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Many vessels got stuck in the channel last summer, and one boat sank, Gaudette said.
“Dredging is always a good idea. It gives us freer access to areas, and you don?t have to worry about running into the ground and doing major damage to your boat,” said Claude Smith, general manager of Bay Shore Marine Engine Service Inc., located in Back River.
The Kent Narrows Channel connects the Chester River to the eastern portion of the Bay. People traveling from areas like such as Severn and Magothy rivers often take the channel to places such as St. Michael?s to circumvent the roughest portion of the Bay, Gaudette said.
Thousands of boaters from Anne Arundel County use the channel, and it is also crucial to the economy of Queen Anne?s County, Gaudette said. It?s home to about 100 commercial boats, as well as marinas, hotels, restaurants and repair shops.
DNR and Queen Anne?s County will fund the $1.5 million project, which will begin in May and should be completed in June.
The state will pay about $900,000, and the county will pay $600,000 upfront. If the department can get more money later, it will reimburse the county. The state money will come from the Waterway Improvement Fund, collected from the 5 percent tax paid when boats are titled and purchased in Maryland.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers usually funds dredging projects, but there was no federal funding available for the project, said Bob Blama, project manager for the Corps.
But the Corps will lead the implementation of the project, Blama said.
The dredging will occur on a 5,600-foot portion of the channel. It will be at least 7 feet deep and 75 feet wide.
About 28,000 cubic yards will be removed using a hydraulic dredge. The sediment will be formed into a wetland with native grasses at Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge in Rock Hall.
