Waterplace Park dredging to begin this month

WaterFire will return with a full schedule of lightings through late 2022, the event's organizers announced on Wednesday. / COURTESY R.I. TOURISM DIVISION

PROVIDENCE – A long-awaited dredging of Waterplace Park is expected to begin within days.

The project will remove 22,000 cubic yards of silt from the river basin, from an area under the Providence Place mall to the Crawford Street Bridge piers.

A permit for the work was approved by the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council in early October. At that time, the agency reported the work was to begin on Nov. 15.

The dredging will be a three-month endeavor, with the two dredges operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to a CRMC release. The city will close Peck Street to through trucks for the duration of the project.

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The dredge material will be reused, according to CRMC, for purposes including marsh restoration, by the city for road sanding, as well as at a redevelopment site in downtown Providence.

The $7 million dredging project was made possible by funds approved by Rhode Island voters in the Green Economy & Clean Water Bond.

Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.

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