A West Virginia company was performing maintenance dredging downstream of the Allegheny River lock chamber in Harrison this week.

The work was needed to maintain the 9-foot navigation depth for commercial vessels, said David Heidish, a project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh. The work is expected to wrap up soon.

The company is being paid about $165,000 to remove a couple thousand cubic yards of material from an area immediately downstream of the lock chamber, where sediment naturally collects, Heidish said.

Such dredging should be done as-needed, or every few years, but depends on the funding to pay for it, Heidish said. Such work had not been done at the Natrona lock (Lock No. 4) for more than 10 years, he said.

The depth had gotten as shallow as 7 feet in some areas because of sediment buildup, Heidish said.

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