The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District recently awarded a $7.8 million contract for the excavation of bedrock within the Florence Bend reach of the Missouri River near Omaha.
The work is being performed as a part of ongoing maintenance of the navigation channel, which begins at the mouth of the Missouri River at St Louis, Missouri and extends upstream for 734 miles to Sioux City, Iowa.
Immediately downstream of the I-680 bridge, near Omaha, the navigation channel contacts a bedrock outcrop commonly referred to as the Florence Reef.
General riverbed degradation in recent years has had a lowering effect on respective river stages (elevations) through this reach of the river which has resulted in insufficient navigation channel dimensions at several locations between river mile (RM) 626.4 to 625.0.
A minimum of 120,000 cubic yards of material is scheduled to be mechanically removed during the execution of this contract.
The contract will be performed by Fenton Construction, Inc. of Sioux City, Iowa. The work will be conducted in phases, with the initial phase intended to provide a minimum navigation channel depth of 8 feet during the current flow support season and to be completed within 25 days of Notice to Proceed.
Subsequent phases will be performed as a part of this contract to provide resiliency to the full, 300 feet wide by 9 feet deep, authorized channel dimensions and is expected to be completed within 200 calendar days from contract Notice to Proceed.