Why Dredging Matters: Keeping Cleveland's Waterways Open for Business

From the products on store shelves to the ships traveling the Great Lakes, much of our regional economy depends on one essential process: dredging. While it often happens out of sight, dredging plays a critical role in keeping Cleveland’s waterways safe, navigable and open for business.

So, what exactly is dredging?

As sand, silt and other sediment wash downstream, they gradually accumulate in rivers and harbors. Dredging is the process of removing that buildup from the bottom of waterways to maintain safe navigation channels.

The Cleveland Harbor is dredged twice each year—once in the spring and again in the fall. Together, those operations remove an average of 250,000 cubic yards of sediment annually. About 100,000 cubic yards of that material is put to beneficial use rather than disposed of.

Routine dredging is essential to maintaining the Cuyahoga River’s federally authorized 23-foot navigation channel, allowing commercial vessels to safely reach businesses along the river and keeping goods moving throughout the region.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), beneficial use is the “productive and positive use of dredged material,” including applications ranging from fish and wildlife habitat restoration to recreation and industrial or commercial projects.

The Port of Cleveland has become a national leader in beneficial-use practices. In 2014, the Port re-engineered two Confined Disposal Facilities (CDFs) to better manage dredged material.

At CDF 9, dredged sediment is processed and recycled for beneficial use. Once material is placed at the facility, the Port’s site operator, Kurtz Brothers, harvests and repurposes it. Most is blended into topsoil, while a portion is used as engineered fill for construction and roadway projects.

CDF 12, meanwhile, was designed to provide long-term storage capacity for dredged material.

While the USACE is responsible for dredging the federal navigation channel, the Port serves as a critical local partner by ensuring sufficient capacity exists to manage the dredged material. That partnership helps keep the shipping channel open and commerce moving.

The Port’s innovative approach to dredged material management has drawn regional attention. Earlier this year, Environmental and GIS Specialist Gabby Eisel appeared on News 5 Cleveland to explain the importance of dredging and how the Port’s facilities support the region’s economy.

“The average person should care about dredging because more than 23,000 jobs and $7.07 billion in annual economic activity are tied to the roughly 10 to 15 million tons of cargo that move through Cleveland Harbor each year,” Eisel told News 5 Cleveland.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Dredged Material Management

The Port is already planning for the future through the Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy (CHEERS), an innovative, multi-partner initiative that represents the next evolution of dredged material management in Cleveland.

CHEERS is designed to expand public access to Cleveland’s lakefront while strengthening coastal resilience, restoring ecological habitat and supporting critical maritime infrastructure.

In 2026, the Port received a $1.5 million award through the Ohio Maritime Assistance Program (MAP), a competitive Ohio Department of Transportation grant that supports strategic maritime infrastructure investments across the state. The funding will advance CHEERS’ Early Action Project, building on years of regional planning and collaboration.

The Early Action Project represents the first phase of the broader CHEERS initiative, allowing critical work to move forward while long-term implementation continues to be developed.

MAP funding will support permitting, final engineering, property acquisition and construction. Additional funding is being pursued through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s National Coastal Resilience Fund and NOAA’s Transformational Habitat Grant. Combined with a $1.5 million investment from the City of Cleveland, these resources position the project to move efficiently toward construction.

“This funding allows us to move CHEERS from planning into implementation,” said Linda Sternheimer, Senior Vice President of Urban Planning and Engagement. “By advancing an early phase of the project, we can streamline permitting and finalize design while laying the groundwork for the full, long-term strategy.”

Once complete, CHEERS is expected to create approximately 3.1 million cubic yards of additional dredged material capacity, extending the useful life of the Port’s Confined Disposal Facilities by an estimated 15 to 20 years while continuing current beneficial-use operations.