45. The improvement requested would have no material effect upon the configuration of the adjacent shore line. CONCLUSIONS 46. The district engineer concludes that commerce at South Boca Grande may be expected to continue at a slight increase over the present substantial volume; that the improvement requested would afford appreciable benefits of considerable importance; that although the prospective savings cannot be evaluated in their entirety, the limited data available indicate savings of more than $3,360 annually due to elimination of the extra distance to Tampa Harbor and of about $1,500 annually due to avoidance of delays while awaiting favorable tides, and that the savings thus indicated are alone sufficient to warrant the provision by the United States of the improvement described in paragraph 33. RECOMMENDATION 47. The district engineer therefore recommends that the existing Federal project for the Boca Grande Channel at Charlotte Harbor, Fla., be modified to provide for deepening the channel to a depth of 30 feet from the Gulf of Mexico to South Boca Grande, and for increasing the width at the bend to 700 feet, at an estimated cost of $59,000, and with no increase in the present approved allowance for maintenance. REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS ON REVIEW OF REPORTS HERETOFORE SUBMITTED ON CHANNEL FROM PENSACOLA BAY INTO BAYOU CHICO, FLA., WITH ILLUSTRATION Hon. J. J. MANSFIELD, WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, Chairman, Committee on Rivers and Harbors, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. MANSFIELD: 1. The Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives, by a resolution adopted April 30, 1935, requested the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors to review the reports on channel from Pensacola Bay into Bayou Chico, Fla., submitted December 31, 1934, with a view to determining if the improvement of this channel is advisable at the present time. I enclose here with the report of the Board in response thereto. 2. Bayou Chico is a tidal inlet on the west side of Pensacola Bay at the southerly limit of the city of Pensacola, 1.6 miles southwest of the municipal terminals. It extends westward 1.2 miles, with an average width of 1,000 feet and general depths of 4 to 12 feet. The banks are 20 to 30 feet high and afford excellent sites for water-front developments. The mean range of tide is 1.4 feet. No project for the improvement of Bayou Chico has been authorized by Congress. During 1917 a shipbuilding plant was constructed on the north shore of the bayou and a channel of 12-foot depth dredged from the bay to and along the bulkheaded frontage of this plant; and the railway and highway bridges crossing the waterway approximately one-third mile 64380-36--1 |