The U-S Army Corps of Engineers has postponed until next summer the release of a revised plan for Mississippi River dredging near Wabasha, says project manager Robert Edstrom. He says, “That’s really due to a lot of the investigation that we’re putting into all the great alternatives that we’ve received to date.” Citizens said the original plan put truck traffic and dredged mud too close to their homes. They submitted over 500 comments with nearly 90 distinct alternatives.
Edstrom says the most difficult thing is transporting dredged material: “One of the things we’ve been looking at is the possibility of barge and rail, digging into those and really trying to flesh out the cost and the considerations that go along with some of that.” The original plan had trucks hauling the material to an interim site in Wabasha, which residents objected was dangerous and too close to their homes.