Crews are dredging a channel through a sandbar where the Colorado River meets Lake Havasu this week.
The swift current of the Colorado River slows dramatically and dumps sand where it meets the lake .
Lake Havasu Marine Association director Jim Salscheider says crossing the three-mile-long sandbar is dangerous and has cost many boaters their propellers.
"We have 60 miles of the best cruising in the west but you have to get through the middle of it," says Salschieider. "The usual way is to lift up your out drive and hope you make it. This is a dramatic change for the boater. It gives them a safe passage."
The marine association raised 60-thousand dollars to dredge the river. It took Salsheider and the nearby Chemehuevi Indian Tribe about a year to win permits from seven agencies. It has to be dredged before two endangered fish reproduce in the spring.