Army Corps drilling soil borings along Tampa's shipping channel as 47-foot deepening advances
The fieldwork, expected to run through year's end, will guide design of the port's largest-ever project.
TAMPA - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is drilling soil borings and collecting subsurface samples at multiple spots along Tampa Bay's federal navigation channel, the next engineering step in a plan to deepen it from 43 to 47 feet, Port Tampa Bay said in an Oct. 26 release. The port expects the fieldwork to continue through the end of the year.
The main channel runs about 42 miles. The port says a deeper channel would let ships carry more cargo per call, which could cut the number of calls needed and lower the cost of moving fuel, construction materials, steel, cars and consumer goods into West Central Florida.
The Corps' General Reevaluation Report estimates that sending cargo through Tampa instead of another Southeastern port and trucking it in could eliminate more than 17 million truck miles a year, avoid about 26,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year under the study's 2024 assumptions, and save about $90 million a year in transportation costs nationwide, according to the port.
Deepening is expected to produce more than 21 million cubic yards of dredged material. Planned uses include restoring and stabilizing Egmont Key at the mouth of the bay and turning about 55 acres of deep water near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge into shallow-water habitat, along with seagrass, hard-bottom, sea turtle and shorebird habitat. The design deepens the center of the existing channel to limit how much its footprint grows.
A project of this scale requires thoughtful engineering that considers both navigation needs and the natural environment. — Paul Anderson, president and CEO, Port Tampa Bay
Congress authorized the Tampa Harbor Navigation Improvement Project in 2024; the port calls it the largest infrastructure initiative in its history. The release does not give a cost estimate or a construction start date.