A federal committee has unanimously approved a request that would bring U.S. Army Corps of Engineers resources into St. Petersburg to study canal dredging, flood mitigation, and ecosystem restoration, Mayor Kenneth Welch announced.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee signed off on the request last week. According to the mayor’s office of governmental affairs, St. Petersburg was one of only three Florida municipalities to receive such authorization in the bill, and the only one explicitly named.
The approval marks the first of two steps needed before the Army Corps can move forward. The second is passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 2026, legislation that traditionally draws bipartisan support and is expected to pass later this year.
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, said she has been pushing for the Army Corps to identify and prioritize local canals for dredging, arguing the assessment would cut flood risk, bolster coastal resilience and help restore local ecosystems.
The push is especially significant for the Riviera Bay neighborhood in northeast St. Petersburg, where residents have spent years asking the city to dredge sediment-clogged canals. Vanessa Pugliese, president of the Riviera Bay Civic Association, said the problem worsened considerably after the 2024 hurricane season.
“Every one of those storms brings more sand,” Pugliese said, adding that the buildup blocks canals and slows drainage from neighborhood streets. She said parts of Riviera Bay have dealt with regular street flooding over the past decade, and called the committee’s approval a major step forward for residents who have long pushed for the canals to be studied.
The city announced in December 2025 that it would study canals 11 and 12 in Riviera Bay as part of a potential dredging project. Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley said he hopes the Army Corps will assist with that study and expand it to cover the roughly 30 miles of canals throughout the city.
Tankersley said the study would take an estimated three to five years to complete, ultimately telling the city which canals would benefit from dredging and which would not. He noted the canals were built 50 to 60 years ago for drainage in low-lying parts of the city, not for boat navigation, which is why they haven’t routinely been dredged in the past.
Pugliese said she hopes a completed study would strengthen the city’s case for congressional funding, since inclusion in the federal resources act could make St. Petersburg eligible for outside appropriations rather than relying solely on city funds.
City data shows tidal flooding has become markedly more frequent in St. Petersburg in recent decades. In 2005, tides exceeded two feet above sea level on just three days. That number rose to 21 days in 2024, and projections from the Florida Flood Hub estimate it could reach 70 days annually by 2033.
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