The first phase of the Hudson River dredging project wraps up this week. Crews dredged more sediment than expected and the EPA says that surpassed their goals. Our North Country Reporter Kim Lengle tells us what's next for the project.

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. -- This week wraps up part of the project that GE dubbed a test phase. A foot of clean dirt will replace all the stuff that's been dredged and all that will have to happen before the canals close on November 15th. And for all the starts and stops, 270,000 cubic yards of river bottom have been dredged. It's an amount that exceeds EPA's expectation.

"They've done a lot to get back on schedule if you will," said EPA Director Dave King.

The project recently ramped up from a six day schedule to a 24-hour-7-day-a-week schedule and the EPA that method paid off.

"I think it went well. We learned a lot. We removed more material than we anticipated overall," said King.

Out of 18 contaminated locations that where targeted, 10 got dug up. And in some of those locations, 60 to 80 percent more sediment had been dredged than originally forecasted. GE says that means it took longer than expected.

"I think we found a lot of, some minor changes some significant changes we need to make sure we hit production but I personally did not see anything that would say we should not continue on to phase two," said King.

General Electric does have the right to opt out of phase two. That part of the project won't start until 2011.

Local officials and residents will meet with GE and the EPA to discuss the project's progress. That meeting is scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the Fort Edward Fire station.