Project record

Mobile Harbor operations and maintenance sediment routing

Participation
Not assessed
Project facts checked

USACE lists four current federal-standard placement routes; Alabama Code Section 33-7-13 takes effect on 1 October 2026

Project sources

Mobile District removes approximately 6 million cubic yards from Mobile Harbor in a typical year, including about 4 million cubic yards from the Bay Channel. The current federal standard allows upland placement, thin-layer placement, the Sand Island Beneficial Use Area and the Mobile ocean disposal site; the route for each contract still depends on material, funding, permits and available capacity.

Aerial view of the Deer River marsh and shoreline beneficial-use site beside Mobile Harbor in August 2024

Courtesy photo / U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District via DVIDS, public domain

Location

United States / Americas

Segment

Port infrastructure

Phase

Delivery / Confirmed

Last checked

14 August 2026

Coverage

Related sectors

Port infrastructure is the primary work classification. Related sectors connect this record to adjacent marine delivery and market coverage.

Subject index

Related subjects

These subject pages bring together related projects, technical articles, reports, and evidence methods.

Project anatomy

Contract scope and delivery roles

Client / authority
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District
Delivery parties
Package-level delivery contractors not identified in the controlling programme sources
Contract route
Recurring federally funded operations-and-maintenance contracts. The current programme pages define the channel responsibility and permitted placement routes but do not identify one controlling 2026 solicitation, contractor or contract value.
Execution window
Recurring annual maintenance. Alabama Code Section 33-7-13 is scheduled to take effect on 1 October 2026, with implementation dependent on agency rules, federal beneficial-use funding and approved in-state site capacity.
Works package
Maintenance dredging across the Mobile Harbor federal navigation channel and routing of suitable material among upland sites, thin-layer placement areas, the Sand Island Beneficial Use Area and the Mobile Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site
Marine interfaces
Bay and river channel dredging, cutterhead pipeline production, diffuser-controlled thin-layer placement, hopper transport, shoreline or marsh placement, Sand Island routing, ocean disposal, hydrographic control and placement-area monitoring
Commercial evidence boundary
The public record establishes a large recurring workload and four possible destinations, not a single open package. Alabama's new rule adds a route-classification test: calling a method beneficial use in the federal programme does not by itself establish that it counts under the narrower state definition. Bid and award records must show the actual reach, material, destination, capacity and funding basis.

Project timeline

Material developments

Dated events that changed scope, counterparties, delivery, commissioning or operating status.

Open this project in the Change Log

Mobile District set out the current programme-scale route choice

USACE restated annual dredging of approximately 6 million cubic yards and described thin-layer, upland, Sand Island and ocean placement as distinct routes. The figures do not identify a current contract quantity or accepted annual output.

Source

A 100-acre Upper Bay wetland cell received RESTORE funding

The approved USD 24 million first cell creates a named destination for suitable dredged material and a foundation for a planned 1,200-acre restoration area. Its future receipt capacity and contract interfaces remain to be evidenced.

Source

Alabama enacted a coastal dredged-material threshold

Code Section 33-7-13 is scheduled to apply from 1 October 2026 to persons dredging more than 1 million cubic yards a year in coastal areas, subject to federal-funding, approved-site-capacity and emergency conditions.

Source

Evidence gap

What remains unverified

Outstanding evidence

  • Annual solicitation quantities and maintained reaches within the Mobile Harbor federal navigation channel
  • Cutterhead, hopper or mechanical plant and the transport system required by each material route
  • Material suitability and permitted capacity at upland, thin-layer, Sand Island and ocean placement destinations
  • ADEM and Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources implementing rules for Code Section 33-7-13
  • Federal funding allocated to qualifying beneficial-use work after 1 October 2026
  • Thin-layer placement thickness, distance from the channel, site rotation and DQM position records
  • Measured quantities by destination rather than one blended beneficial-use percentage
  • Post-dredge hydrography, placement acceptance and environmental monitoring

Related records 2

Reporting status

Project phase
Delivery
Evidence confidence
Confirmed
Last checked
14 August 2026
Cited sources
9

Sources and related records

Project changes Methodology Email a correction Project tracker
Source collections

Project sources 9