BY ANTHONY RIZZO
A local engineering company was awarded a 1.7 million dollar contract by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers for dredging in Saginaw.
Officials say on average, 3.7 million tons of material are shipped or received out of Saginaw Harbor on an annual basis.
Mollie Mahoney is the operations project manager for the Detroit District Army Corps of Engineers.
She said without any dredging, the number of shipments and the weight each could carry would be lower than the
"It cost shippers and the construction industry more money to acquire the materials they need, the materials being shipped and received in and out of Saginaw. Because the Great Lakes Navigation System operates as a system, when we are unable to meet our stakeholder's needs in Saginaw, they are able to ship less efficiently and it affects our stakeholders in Duluth, and effects our stakeholders in Marquette, and our stakeholders in Cleveland." Mahoney said.
The focus of the project is the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay.
The dredging project will begin this month.