Millions in new funding is coming to restart dredging on Schuylkill along Boathouse Row, regatta racecourse

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey on Monday announced millions in new federal funding to complete dredging in front of Philadelphia’s iconic Boathouse Row and along the Schuylkill racecourse, bringing the total amount of money allocated for the project to $13 million.

That’s far above an initial $4.5 million raised by the rowing community, city officials, and universities in a previous attempt to dredge the river, which stalled in November 2020 when contractor Atlantic Subsea told the U.S. Army Corps that there was too much debris in the muck for it to continue.

The U.S. Army Corps, which is overseeing the contract, canceled the agreement with Atlantic Subsea, though it still remains in a legal dispute.

The Army Corps recently picked a new contractor and has restarted the project.

“This $13 million investment is an investment in the people, the people of the City of Philadelphia,” Casey said. “The people of this city deserve this money. It’s long overdue.”

About $5 million of that new money was announced earlier this year and will come from the bipartisan federal infrastructure bill. The project will get another $8 million in funding next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

The Army Corps has selected Dredgit to start dredging in front of Boathouse Row on July 1 in what’s expected to be a 60-day project. A second project is expected later in the year to dredge the National Course farther upstream where the major regattas, including Stotesbury and Dad Vail are held.

Officials held a news conference about the new funding between the Sedgeley and Philadelphia Girls rowing clubs on Boathouse Row, saying the river brings in millions from regattas and is an economic engine.

Councilmember Darrell L. Clarke called Boathouse Row “a very, very significant part of the city of Philadelphia.”

“Every time you see a movie (about the city), or a painting, they always show Boathouse Row,” Clarke said. “It just references all the things that are good about our city.”

Bonnie Mueller, commodore of the Schuylkill Navy, the governing body for the amateur clubs that own the houses along the river, called it “a very big deal that we got this money.”

The river above the dam has not been dredged since 1999. As a result, silt has been building up, leaving nothing but mud or land in front of some of the boathouses where there used to be water. And two lanes along the racecourse are also shallower than others, creating a competitive disadvantage. Lane 6 is particularly shallow.

» READ MORE: Clogged with muck, shallow Schuylkill is putting rowing, regattas at risk

So rowers began in 2018 trying to raise money to have it dredged, fearing not only for their own access, but of potentially losing economically lucrative regattas in the years ahead to other courses with deeper and more even lane depths. It took years for the Schuylkill Navy to raise $4.5 million for the dredge. The City of Philadelphia, the state, local universities with rowing clubs, the William Penn Foundation, the rowing and paddling communities, and members of the public all pitched in.

The Army Corps awarded the contract to Atlantic Subsea, by far the lowest bidder, and the company began dredging in June 2020. Under the contract, Atlantic Subsea was to scoop out sediment and pump it over the Fairmount Dam, where a barge would transport it to Fort Mifflin on the Delaware River.

But Atlantic Subsea hit big snags — literally. It anticipated finding debris, such as tires, concrete blocks, and trash. But the company complained that removal of other big items the company kept encountering included full-size trees, railroad ties, and pilings. It said that debris was not part of the deal and required more equipment and money.

» READ MORE: Schuylkill dredge project halted as contractor says there’s too much debris in river, infuriating rowers

The Army Corps balked, saying Atlantic Subsea had signed a contract and should have known what it was getting into. The company stopped working in November 2020, creating a legal stalemate with the Army Corps, which terminated the contract in February 2021. The government had paid Atlantic Subsea nearly $1 million at that point.

Atlantic Subsea’s insurance company is also involved, claiming the government contract did not account for removal of large debris and had only authorized pumping of sediment and water. Large debris could not be pumped over the dam, it said.

The project has been in limbo until recently when the new contract was awarded. Stephen Rochette, a spokesperson for the Army Corps, said the balance of the original $4.5 million is being held until the dispute is settled.

Of the new money, he said $5 million will go to dredge the boathouse area as planned. And $8 million will be used to dredge the racecourse, though he said some of that money may be used for other projects, so it was difficult to directly compare costs against the original project.

Rochette and other Army Corps officials said costs rose over the years, and the latest round of contractors bid higher than in the past.