LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it couldn’t wait for spring floods to recede before starting to dredge the Mississippi River because of the volume of sand that needs to be removed. Dan Cottrell is the Corps dredging manager for the St. Paul district, which stretches from Minnesota’s capital city to Guttenberg, Iowa. He told the La Crosse Tribune that the Corps starting dredging April 29.

He says the Corps has dredged 160,000 of the 1.1 million cubic yards of sediment that must be removed from his district. Cottrell says the Corps usually dredges about 980,000 cubic yards of sediment from April to November. Paul Machajewski, the district’s dredge material manager, says $29 million has been allocated for the operation to keep the river clear for navigation.