Congressman Alan Lowenthal announced today that he has helped to secure an additional $7.74M on top of $5M previously secured for much-needed dredging of the Queensway Bay Channel, at the mouth of the Los Angeles River in Long Beach.
The combined funding of $12.74M will allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to remove years of sediment built up because from silt flowing down and out of the river. This will completely clear a fully navigable channel.
“The Queensway Bay channel is a key waterway in our area and keeping it open is critical to the thousands of recreational boaters who rely on it each year,” Congressman Lowenthal said. “Silting in the Queensway Bay channel can negatively impact navigation for vessels launching from Long Beach’s South Shore Launch Ramp, located in the channel. Nearly 10,000 vessels launch from this ramp per year and require a clear channel to safely maneuver, and 600,000 people rely on the channel for transportation and tourism each year.”
Dredging has to be completed every three to five years to keep the channel clear, but because maintenance dredging was not kept up, the channel has been in danger of silting to the point of becoming impassible by marine craft.
The funding for the dredging was included in Congress’ fiscal year 2015 funding package, as requested by Lowenthal and the City of Long Beach.
“The City of Long Beach is thrilled to see that through the leadership provided by Congressman Lowenthal, Congress has passed a budget bill that includes $7.7 million for dredging the federal channel in the Los Angeles River Estuary in 2015,” Mayor Robert Garcia said. “The City and Congressman Lowenthal have been working closely together over the past two years to ensure that sufficient federal funds are invested in maintaining navigability in the federal channel. This is a safety matter, and also a matter of economic importance, as the federal channel is the only path of travel between Catalina Island and Long Beach.”