Army Corps finishes VPA dredging to 50 feet

Army Corps finishes VPA dredging to 50 feet The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District, said Friday it has completed a $37 million project to deepen the inbound lane of the shipping channel to the Hampton Roads harbor to 50 feet.
   The Corps deepened the harbor's outbound lane of the channel to 50 feet in the late 1980s.
   The project, begun in July 2003, was completed in three phases: the Thimble Shoals channel in 2004, the Norfolk Harbor channel in 2005, and finally, the Atlantic Ocean channel this year.
   Dredging was conducted by Weeks Marine Inc., Cranford, N.J.; Norfolk Dredging Co., Chesapeake, Va.; and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., Oak Brook, Ill., and the project was completed on schedule and under budget.
   The Port of Virginia is the world's leader in coal and tobacco exports and is the second-largest container port on the East Coast, just behind the Port of New York-New Jersey.