Plans to dredge Put-In Creek to attract boaters to the Mathews Court House area may still have some life, after the Mathews Board of Supervisors gave the go-ahead Tuesday night to an Army Corps of Engineers’ study.

A total of $100,000 in federal money has been set aside for this study. County Administrator Stephen K. Whiteway said that his office received a call about two to three weeks ago informing him that the funding had become available.

This news comes on the heels of the county’s own initial feasibility study for dredging the creek, conducted by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, which suggested that costs associated with disturbing wetlands would be prohibitive.

For several years, Mathews has sought federal interest in the Put-In Creek project through the Corps of Engineers, but to no avail.

"It is ironic that funding has become available after we have completed our initial feasibility study," Whiteway wrote in his report to the board. "However, if th...