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Housatonic River Navigation Project

Housatonic RiverThe Housatonic River originates in northwestern Massachusetts and flows south for 132 miles through Massachusetts and Connecticut to Long Island Sound at Stratford, about four miles east of Bridgeport Harbor.

The Corps first began work on the Housatonic River in 1871 and has since made several improvements to facilitate navigation for commercial and recreational vessels. At present, the project consists of:

  • A 13-mile-long channel stretching from the mouth of the river to Derby and Shelton. For the first five miles, from the mouth of the river to Culvers Bar in Milford, the channel is 18 feet deep and 200 feet wide. For the next eight miles, to a point about 500 feet before the Shelton-Derby Bridge, the channel is seven feet deep and 100 feet wide and used chiefly for recreational boating.
  • A 5,820-foot-long stone breakwater on the east side of the river mouth.
  • A 1,225-foot-long training dike in Stratford.
  • A 163-foot-long jetty at Sow and Pigs Rock in East Derby, about 13 miles upstream from the mouth of the river.