The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District awarded a contract in the amount of $5,180,000 to RLB Contracting Inc. to perform maintenance dredging within the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, specifically from Corpus Christi Bay to Port Isabel, Texas.
The contractor is required to remove approximately 1 million cubic yards of shoaled material from the channel reaches to provide sufficient channel depth for the transit of shallow-draft vessels. The dredge material will be placed in partially emergent placement areas along the Intracoastal.
“Throughout the year, sediments within the water column will settle and accumulate within the channel, a process known as shoaling, ” said Operations Manager Capt. Derek Thornton, USACE Galveston District . “ We will remove the shoaled material to the authorized project depth to allow for safe navigation between dredging cycles.”
Work is scheduled to begin this month with an estimated completion date of April 2014.
“Staff keeps environmental considerations at the forefront when undertaking the design, construction and execution of projects that are crucial to keeping the nation’s waterways safe for navigation, ” said Thornton. “ Maintaining a balance between development and minimizing the impact on our environment is in keeping with our commitment to remaining good stewards of our environment.”
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Press Release, December 5, 2013