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Corps exceeds
expectations with river plan
Published February 1,
2008
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, at long last, has had plenty of
good news to go around in Brazoria County.
Even before news this week that the Freeport
marina permits were issued came word of the
San Bernard River mouth widening, a huge
boon to the area that opens up a multitude
of possibilities.
Corps officials came to town last week to
detail their $4.5 million plan before a
crowd in the Brazoria Civic Center. The
project, they said, now is set to include
dredging of a 100-foot-wide channel that
will be a whopping 10 feet deep.
The Corps plans to award a contract for the
work in September and the project, which
should take less than 60 days, could start
as soon as a month afterward.
That Corps officials have so far held to
their initial timeline is fantastic news,
especially from an agency with a reputation
of drawn-out projects where even the
squeakiest of wheels turn slowly. That
speaks to the importance of the project.
Better news than the timeline, even, is the
expanded scope of the project itself. A
10-foot deep, 100-foot wide channel will
open the San Bernard as a quick avenue to
the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The project will alleviate a dangerous
situation at the floodgates. Violent
currents at the Brazos River floodgates stem
from increased water flow through the
Intracoastal Waterway — a result of silt
choking off the San Bernard river mouth.
Opening the San Bernard River mouth will
reduce what is an alarmingly high rate of
shipping collisions, a safety improvement
which only can enhance Port Freeport
operations.
Further, property values along the riverbank
stand to go way up as the project is
completed and recreational boaters discover
the ease of access to deep water.
The hard work of river advocates, coupled
with the merits of a genuinely important
project, resulted in the Corps’ action.
And in this case, a federal agency that long
has gotten a bum rap for taking too long to
accomplish too little has come through not
with the least they could do, but with a
planned project that goes beyond the minimum
that could be done to accomplish what should
be done.
This editorial was written by Yvonne Mintz,
managing editor of The Facts.
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