A plan to turn dredged material into 1,200 acres of wetland habitat south of the Causeway is fully funded and moving toward construction, Port Authority officials said this week.
Port Authority Director Doug Otto told board members during a Thursday meeting that contracts will be awarded in November, with construction beginning by the first of the year and completion expected by Thanksgiving 2027. The site will provide about 20 years of new capacity to receive dredged material from the authority’s terminal facilities.
Otto said the beneficial-use project is fully funded through $24 million in RESTORE Act funding administered through the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, following an earlier $2.5 million planning grant. The Port has already obtained a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for the work. The 1,200 acres are owned by the state of Alabama, and dredged material will be excavated from the Pinto Island Steel Terminal, Container Terminal and McDuffie Coal Terminal and pumped into the site to create marsh habitat.
Otto said the project gives the Port a new option for material that would otherwise have to be managed at upland sites or hauled offshore. “We’re responsible for all that dredging, all that material, and so what we’ve done has taken us five years to do, but we have a permit to create marsh habitat in Upper Mobile Bay,” he said.
Otto said the approach avoids the additional steps required when dredged material is trucked to upland sites, dried and hauled off, and noted that offshore disposal in the Gulf of Mexico is “not a great environmental solution.” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains the ship channel at 50 feet in the lower harbor and 40 feet in the upper harbor, while the Port is responsible for dredging more than 30 berths at its own facilities.
“This will get us 20 years,” Otto said. “I mean, you think, wow, 1,200 acres. That’s a lot. That’s only us. That’s not the Corps of Engineers, and it’s only 20 years.” Otto said the project carries the added benefit of restoring wetland habitat in an area where marsh has been lost over time.