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The Port of Houston began work on Wednesday (June 1) on a $1 billion expansion project for the Houston Ship Channel, Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported.
Project 11 will widen and deepen the 52-mile channel in phases during the next four years, per KHOU.
The station reported that port officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) kicked off the expansion, which is expected to boost the economy in the Houston area.
To widen the channel by 170 feet, the port and the USACE will employ a red dredge called "Dredge Carolina," which is one of the largest in the country, KHOU reported.
An effort to deepen the channel's upstream segments by up to approximately 47 feet will ensure that larger vessels safely negotiate the waterway in the future, the station reported.
The port anticipates Project 11 to produce a $134 million increased annual economic impact, KHOU reported.
"This project will enable Port Houston to continue to grow and respond effectively to whatever the future demand supply chain has to offer," the port's executive director, Roger Guenther, said, according to the station.
Lasse Petterson with Great Lakes Dredge and Dock said that the Carolina has low emissions, Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported.
"It's one of the largest dredges in the United States," Petterson said, per the station. "She is 340 feet long, 65 feet wide and has about 16,000 horsepower installed on the vessel. The dredge has completed numerous challenging projects around the world, and we repositioned her from the Middle East to the U.S. two years ago."