Bayport Ship Channel Improvements Project

From initial planning to final construction, the Bayport Ship Channel Improvements Project is a prime example of changes and challenges ports across the county will undergo to prepare for the expansion of the Panama Canal and accommodate the demands of the industry. The Port of Houston Authority (PHA) proposes to deepen and widen the Bayport Ship Channel (BSC), located in upper Galveston Bay, within Harris and Chambers Counties, Texas from the Bayport Turning Basin through the Bayport Flare at the confluence of the BSC and Houston Ship Channel (HSC). The channel would be deepened from its current, federally-maintained depth of -40 feet (ft) mean low tide (MLT) to -45 ft MLT, and widened to the north by 100 ft from the start of the flare to the land cut and by 50 ft from the land cut to the TB. New work dredged material would be used beneficially in two dredged material placement options. The project purpose is to deepen and widen the existing BSC to alleviate the current transit restrictions and increase travel efficiencies for vessel transit, improve safety conditions for vessel operations, improve conditions for port operations, and beneficially use the dredged material. The alternatives considered were screened using criteria pertinent to PHA's mission including increasing navigation safety and efficiency, cost effectiveness, constructability, and minimizing environmental impacts. This involved various issues of navigation simulations, land constraints, dredging efficiency, and oyster impacts and mitigation. Approximately 4 million cubic yards of new work material would be generated from initial construction consisting of approximately 80% clays, 10% sands and 10% silt. PHA sought input from the Beneficial Uses Group, consisting of representatives from state and Federal resource agencies in evaluating placement options for the beneficial use of dredged material. As a result of the agency and public coordination process and feedback, the placement options were narrowed down to the Raise Levees in Existing PAs option. Therefore, the project currently completing the permitting process consists of the preferred channel alternative and the Raise Levees in Existing PAs placement option. PHA anticipates construction to commence in early 2014.