BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ The nearly $16 million dredging of the Brownsville ship channel is finished.
Port of Brownsville spokesman Manuel Ortiz says the dredging, which took about four months, is meant to clear the way for larger vessels to use the port.
The Brownsville Herald reported Monday that the channel had not been dredged since the mid-1990s.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was in charge of the dredging, funded by federal stimulus money.
Ortiz says sediment and other dredging material, of higher quality, were used to support beaches. Levees also were built to hold the removed material.
Ortiz says the port is now capable of accepting vessels with a draft up to 39 feet when fully loaded.
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