Port Everglades Deepening Project Given Green Light

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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - Plans to deepen and widen Port Everglades have been given the green light.

Port officials said Thursday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can move ahead with the project now that President Obama signed into the law last week the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act.

The project will deepen the port's navigational channel to 48 feet from 42 feet and widen the entrance so that cargo ships can get past docked cruise ships.

The plan also calls for planting 103,000 new nursery-raised coral in 18 acres of existing reef areas and creating five acres of artificial reef by relocating around 11,500 corals.

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