Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and Baltimore Harbor Connecting Channels fact sheet, 1999

с FACT SHEET SUBJECT : Chesapeake and Delaware (C & D) Canal - Baltimore Harbor Connecting Channels, Delaware and Maryland - Navigation FACTS: • The existing Federal navigation project for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is 44 miles long, 35 feet deep and 450 feet wide from the Delaware River to the Chesapeake Bay off Pooles Island. The project was deepened to 35 feet in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Baltimore Harbor Connecting Channels of Brewerton Eastern Extension and Tolchester have a length of 13 miles and are authorized at 35 feet deep and 600 feet wide. These channel projects provide deep draft commercial ships calling at Baltimore, Maryland, with a shortcut to and from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the northeast United States and Europe. • In response to a resolution by the Committee on Public Works and Transportation of the House of Representatives dated September 8, 1988, the Philadelphia District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in August 1996, completed a feasibility study of navigation improvements of the C&D Canal. • The 1 996 feasibility report plan developed by the District Engineer recommended deepening the existing 35-foot navigation channel to 40 feet. The project also includes enlargement of the Reedy Point flare, bend widening at Sandy Point, and construction of an emergency anchorage at Howell Point. The estimated cost of the deepening project at October 1995 price levels, was $82,800,000, cost shared at $54,138 ,000 Federal and $28,662,000 non-Federal. During review of the final feasibility report, in addition to Corps policy review concerns on project economics, a local citizen’s group expressed concerns on economic justification as well as environmental impacts of the deepening project. • Section 101 (b)( 1 2) of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 1996, conditionally authorized construction of the C&D Canal project, subject to completion of a final Chiefs Report before December 31, 1996. The December 23, 1996, Chiefs Report indicated that while the project is engineeringly sound, questions remain regarding project economics and selection of the appropriate channel depth, and environmental concerns on possible impacts on groundwater quality from the disposal of dredged material, loss of groundwater into the canal, bank erosion, and water quality impacts in the Chesapeake Bay. • The Chiefs Report required that during the preconstruction engineering and design phase of the project these issues be addressed and resolved before initiating detailed design of the project. C