Estuary Waterway Projects—Lessons Learned

Abstract

Most major ports in the United States (and the world) are located in tidal estuaries. Access to these ports generally requires development of dredged channels. The maintenance of these channels can be affected by many factors such as channel location, training works, dredged material disposal practices, and salinity changes. This paper provides a list of do's and don'ts for design and maintenance of estuary navigation projects. The estuaries are classified into two general zones; entrance channels and interior channels. Entrance channel lessons include jetty configuration, location and length, dredging methods, and dredge material disposal practices. Interior channel lessons cover harbor and interior channel locations, location of salinity caused shoaling, dredging methods and dredge material disposal practices. The do's and don'ts list is a condensation of lessons learned from studies of 24 estuary navigation projects in the United States. The lessons are generic, therefore site‐specific evaluations would be required to determine their applicability.