
Arkansas River is About to Get Much Deeper Beginning in 2025
The Arkansas River is about to get much deeper beginning in 2025.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is about to begin a massive project on the Arkansas that will take the river from 9 feet to 12 feet deeper. It's called the 12-foot Channel Project and it's designed to allow larger barges to carry more commercial cargo through the channels of the river.
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It will require dredging over a million cubic yards from the bottom of the river along a stretch from Tulsa to the Mississippi River some 445 miles. The deepening of the Arkansas River will not only enhance commercial activity in the area but will also attract new investments to the region boosting its economic impacts to more than 3.5 billion dollars already shipped on the river each year, according to the Arkansas Waterways Commission.
The state takes in more than $185 million in taxes from barge traffic on Arkansas waterways while supporting up to 55,000 jobs in the state. This project will not happen overnight it will take several years up to 2035 or longer to complete the mission for increased efficiency of transportation to the region. Arkansas could become more competitive while lowering costs of transportation because the larger cargo barges could carry more cargo lessening the trip several times for smaller barges. Larger cargo barges on the river would mean fewer trucks on the road.
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Additionally, the deeper channel could alter the river's flow helping implicate flood control and water management along the Arkansas River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will have to develop a plan to address the concerns and strategies of what it could do to the ecosystem on the waterway short term. The 12-foot Channel Project would be a huge undertaking for the Arkansas River history but could set up Arkansas nicely to become competitive on the national level and globally for decades to come.
The Arkansas River is the 6th largest river in the United States it stretches 1,460 miles and flows through four states. Find how deep the Arkansas River is here.
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Gallery Credit: Jim Weaver
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