A rough draft of a plan backed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommends that the Port of Virginia be allowed to dredge its main shipping channels to 55 feet, down from 50 feet, and to widen them to 1,200 feet from 1,000.
Some channels would go even deeper, to 56 feet and 59 feet, respectively.
If it all works out as planned, the Port of Virginia would have shipping channels deeper and wider than those now used at the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the nation, where the channels are 53 feet deep and the main channel about 1,000 feet wide.
The so-called “55-foot project” is projected to cost between $266 million and $324 million and be split 50-50 between the federal and state government.
The port has had congressional authorization to dredge to 55 feet since 1986. The Corps of Engineers had to review the project again, however, to determine optimum depths and widths based on current traffic.
