Alexandria must double the amount budgeted to dredge its marina to more than $2 million or lose lucrative river traffic and possibly undermine the new water taxi service expected to carry tourists across the Potomac from Maryland’s National Harbor, a proposal said.

“It is difficult to estimate the tourism revenue lost due to the loss of the T-pier to visiting ships,” said Laura Overstreet, spokeswoman for the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association. “The availability of the T-pier is crucial to our strategy for the waterfront.

With the opening of National Harbor right around the corner, it’s more important than ever.”

Marina staff has had to turn away large yachts and tourist-attracting tall ships since last year and will soon be forced to deny berths to smaller cruise ships, according to documents the City Council will consider at its meeting today.

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In April, the Potomac Riverboat Company’s new water taxi is supposed to start running between National Harbor and another part of the marina that also needs dredging, said Craig Perl, a civil engineer with the city’s transportation and environmental services department.

The expanded need for dredging work on the marina has boosted the estimated cost from the $900,000 that was budgeted to $2.15 million, Perl said.

City staff is asking the council to shift $575,000 from funds intended to move utility lines underground to cover some of the difference.

No source has been identified to pay for dredging around the T-pier, where the largest ships dock.

Tourism, which jumps when large ships are docked at the marina, brought in $603 million to Alexandria during the 2006 fiscal year, according to the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association.

Staff wouldn’t say how many ships were turned away from the marina in 2006 and 2007, but they included tall ships from Canada, Colombia, India, Oman and the Netherlands, and Forbes Inc. and Nextel Inc.’s large yachts.

Staff is “scrambling” to get the dredging started this fall, Perl said. It can only be done in fall and winter, because it disrupts fish spawning in the spring, he said.

mhegstad@dcexaminer.com