By Avery SchneiderMay 12, 2025
Dredging will focus on the mouth of the navigation channel and inside the west breakwater, removing approximately 80,000 cubic yards of material and placing it in a designated open-lake area as part of regular and advanced maintenance dredging. Advanced maintenance dredging clears the navigation channel deeper and wider than regular maintenance dredging, and will add roughly one foot of additional depth, and 10 feet of additional width to the navigable channel.
Work is scheduled to be completed by the end of June, and is not expected to impede boat traffic in and out of the harbor. Operators of boats of all sizes, including paddle craft, should steer clear of dredging operations to ensure their safety.
The Buffalo District awarded a $1.4 million contract for the work in Sept. 2024, with advanced maintenance dredging added in March 2025.
Dredging of Barcelona Harbor is conducted on an infrequent basis, based on need and the availability of funding. The harbor was last dredged in 2023, with 65,000 cubic yards removed.
Barcelona Harbor is a shallow-draft harbor on the southeastern shore of Lake Erie. Recreational boating facilitated by the harbor supports $1.2 million in business revenue, seven direct, indirect, and induced jobs, and $439,000 in labor income to the transportation sector.
Operation, maintenance and dredging of harbors like Barcelona by USACE is critical to the economy of New York, the Great Lakes region, and the United States.
Photos and video of Barcelona Harbor available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/buffalousace/albums/72177720324543657/
The Buffalo District delivers world class engineering solutions to the Great Lakes Region, the Army and the Nation in order to ensure national security, environmental sustainability, water resource management, and emergency assistance during peace and war.
Buffalo District Floating Plant Drilling at Barcelona Harbor
Barcelona Harbor Drilling

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