An Army Corps of Engineers project to dredge Menemsha Channel will enter its third season in the fall with a new contractor at the helm.

H&L Dredging of Bay Shores, N.Y., will take over from J-Way Inc. of Avon, Ohio, whose contract was terminated in March after two unsuccessful attempts to dredge the channel.

“We have good experiences with H&L completing projects of similar size and complexity,” Army Corps project manager Craig Martin told the Gazette this week. “We are looking forward to having them finish up the project and get the access back to those who need it most.”

Work is expected to begin around Oct. 1 and take four to five weeks to complete.

Mr. Martin said the protocol will be the same as last year, although H&L intends to finish the project earlier in the season.

As before, spoils will be pumped through a 1.5-mile pipeline to a section of Lobsterville Beach in Aquinnah.

To date nearly 20,000 cubic yards of sand have been dredged from the channel. About 39,000 cubic yards of sand remains to be dredged.

The project and new contractor were the subject of brief discussion at the Chilmark selectmen’s meeting this week.

“This is their third try. They seem to have a better plan this time than they’ve had in the first two tries,” selectman Warren Doty said.

“I’m very happy,” said selectman Bill Rossi. “I hope they can pull it off.”