The City of Mobile recently began a seven-month effort to restore the historic stream channel of Three Mile Creek to the east of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bypassed this segment of Three Mile Creek with a straight channel in the early 1980s to control flooding in the area. The city’s current project, funded through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, will restore and preserve the natural flow of the historic channel and link it to the City of Mobile and Mobile County’s ongoing Blueway efforts. Dredging the historical channel will improve water flow and habitat conditions and provide increased recreational opportunities for citizens, like kayaking and canoeing. It will also contribute to our larger, collaborative effort to revitalize the Three Mile Creek Watershed.
Throughout the project, residents in the area will likely see construction equipment along the banks of Three Mile Creek, boats, dredging equipment, and a floating boom in the waterway during working hours. Recreational boaters who need to cross the floating boom will find instructions on how to have it opened on signage near the project. Our goal is to restore this historic waterway, but we also want to reduce the inconvenience for those who regularly use this area of Three Mile Creek.
A map of the Historic Three Mile Creek Dredging project is attached. More information about our broader Three Mile Creek Restoration efforts can be found at mapformobile.org/3mcwatershed/.