The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, awarded the following three task order contracts in the combined amount of $300,666.78 to Quaternary Resource Investigations LLC to investigate soil conditions for future levee construction at dredged material placement sites along the Texas coast.
•Cedar Bayou Navigation Channel’s proposed 90-acre confined placement site located in Baytown, Texas, in the amount of $77,769.24 to explore existing soil conditions.
•Houston Ship Channel’s Peggy Lake Placement Area in the amount of $58,484.90 to investigate soil conditions for future levee construction.
•Sabine Neches Waterway’s Placement Area 11 in the amount of $164,412.64 to investigate soil conditions for future levee construction.
“This work supports the district’s efforts to create Dredge Material Management Plans to ensure that maintenance dredging activities are performed in an environmentally acceptable manner, use sound engineering techniques, are economically warranted and that sufficient placement area capacities are available for the next 20 years, ” said David B. Boothby Jr., a civil engineer in the USACE Galveston District’s Geotechnical and Structures Section . “ Data developed during the field and laboratory programs will be used to characterize the subsurface soils and measure the physical and engineering properties of the soils. The interpreted soil characteristics and properties will then be used to develop levee designs and establish costs to ensure the constructability and economic viability of the recommended plan.”
According to Boothby, as these placement areas receive maintenance dredged materials, the existing levees must be raised to provide adequate capacity for future operations.
“ This work allows the district to support proposed levee raising design and construction at the existing placement areas, ” said Boothby. “ Ultimately, we are able to maintain navigable depths for ocean-going vessels to support the ports of Beaumont, Houston and Orange, and keep waterways open for commerce.”
Work is scheduled to begin in March 2013.
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Press Release, March 1, 2013