By Benjamin Cox on April 5, 2021 at 9:34am The highlighted area is designated where the next round of dredging is set to occur. The City of Beardstown has given permission for the next phase of dredging to begin for the marina. The current phase of the project involves dredging under the railroad bridge to the navigation channel. The estimated cost of this phase is $200,000. Chair of the Beardstown Harbor Committee Kelly Cagle says a local employer helped to fund the next phase in the project as well as several other vital portions to the upcoming marina: “JBS gave us $310,000. $60,000 of it went to start a new dive team for equipment and training. The other was for dredging and the work on our permit, so if it wouldn’t have been for JBS, we would not be as far as we are. In doing that, we are taking $50,000 working towards our permit, and the other $160,000 we are going to do our dredging – considered to be part 2 of our phase, which comes from the point of the marina to the cut that was put through the rock dike. Now, what we will start doing is raising money for and looking for funds for Phase 3.”