$52 Million D&R Canal Dredging Project Underway

A contractor works on the dredge vessel in the Delaware & Raritan Canal on Aug. 22.

The $52 million Delaware & Raritan Canal dredging project is underway.

The entire project is expected to take four years, although actual dredging will occur in 2018, 2019 and 2020, according to the New Jersey Water Supply Authority’s web site on the project.

During this stage of the project, the canal is closed to boaters from Kingston to Griggstown, and will be through Nov. 30. The project will also necessitate the intermittent closing of the towpath.

A 10-mile stretch of the canal from Route 27 in Kingston to Amwell Road in East Millstone is targeted for the dredging. A total of 248,000 cubic yards of sediment is expected to be removed from the canal, which will help NJWSA serve its water customers, according to the company’s web site. The sediment will be piped to property at 1391 Canal Road for drying and then will be trucked to the American Cyanamid Superfund Site in Bridgewater for final distribution.

The project was supposed to have started in 2014, but public outcry over environmental and other issues forced NJWSA to delay its start.

NJWSA has said that the cost of this project to its water customers would be about $7 a year.

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