Dredged Material
Buffalo Harbor splits its 2026 dredging between disposal and a future wetland
Buffalo Harbor's 2026 maintenance package is a 190,000-cubic-yard job with two destinations. USACE plans to send about 110,000 cubic yards to confined disposal facility #4 and about 80,000 cubic yards to Shipping Slip 3, where repeated placement cycles are intended to build a 6.7-acre wetland.
What changed
The 17 July USACE release controls the 2026 award, contractor, quantities, routing and planned dates. The 2023 wetland release controls the 6.7-acre target and approximately 285,000-cubic-yard multi-cycle concept. The CDF #4 and harbor fact sheets provide facility and navigation baselines. The photograph shows Buffalo Harbor dredging by Ryba in September 2020 and is used as exact operational context, not proof of 2026 mobilisation.
Why it matters
The total dredged volume is only half the story. CDF placement closes against facility and material-acceptance rules; Slip 3 placement also feeds a multi-year habitat scheme. Combining both routes into one completion claim would hide receiving-site capacity, actual route quantities and the later wetland work.
Decision read
What remains open
The current release is only a start notice. Ryba mobilisation and measured production are still unconfirmed. Once work begins, the two material streams need separate quantities and destinations. The harbor contract can close against measured quantities, post-dredge hydrography and accepted channel condition. Slip 3 remains open until fill levels, the wider approximately 285,000-cubic-yard programme, planting and habitat monitoring are documented.
Next watchpoints
- Confirmed mobilisation from the planned 18 July start
- Daily and final measured dredging quantities
- Actual CDF #4 and Slip 3 placement split
- Sediment testing and environmental acceptance
- Post-dredge channel survey and maintained depths
- Slip 3 fill progress toward the wider wetland programme
- Native planting, habitat installation and later monitoring
Knowledge context
Related knowledge topics
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Sources used 4
- Buffalo Harbor dredging starting and supporting a future Great Lakes wetland U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, 17 July 2026
- First phase of construction on the Buffalo Outer Harbor wetland U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, 20 December 2023
- Buffalo Harbor confined disposal facility #4 fact sheet U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, 26 July 2023
- Buffalo Harbor project requirements fact sheet U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, Current fact sheet reviewed 17 July 2026
Corrections and methodology
Facts are dated to the source record above. IMWO updates the brief when procurement, award, delivery, or scope evidence materially changes.
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