Corps schedules Atchafalaya Bar Channel dredging into September

A federal dredging notice covers work in the Atchafalaya River Bar Channel through approximately September 20, 2026, putting navigation maintenance on the route south of Morgan City into this month’s operating calendar.

In its August 12 bulletin, the Army Corps of Engineers’ New Orleans District scheduled the hopper dredge Newport to work between river miles 152 and 167, beginning on or about August 17. The planned schedule was continuous: 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Navigation Bulletin 26-79.

The notice tells vessel operators to contact dredge personnel on VHF channels 13 or 16 for passing arrangements. It also calls for the slowest safe transit speed to reduce wake and urges caution after arrangements have been made. These instructions concern moving through a work area, not a notice that the entire channel is closed.

The bulletin remained on the Corps’ active navigation list when checked September 13. Its end date is approximate. The posting establishes the announced work window and navigation instructions; it does not provide a daily position for the vessel or a completed-dredging survey.

The larger federal maintenance project connects several waterways. In its project description, accessed September 13, the Corps identifies the Atchafalaya River south of Morgan City, Bayous Chene, Boeuf and Black toward Amelia, and the bay and Gulf approaches. The project extends across parts of Assumption, St. Mary and Terrebonne parishes.

That description provides for a navigation channel 20 feet deep and 400 feet wide. Those are the project’s dimensions, not a promise that every location has that surveyed depth today. The same page offers no current status assessment.

For Morgan City’s waterborne traffic, the immediate practical detail is the active work notice: a defined stretch of channel, a roughly month-long schedule and radio coordination with the dredge before passing.