PORTLAND, Ore. - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, awarded the final contract for the Columbia River Channel Improvement Project to J.E. McAmis, Inc., July 17.
The nearly $52 million contract includes $26.6 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, along with 2009 appropriated and matching sponsor funds. According to the contractor, the work is estimated to create about 50 new jobs.
Work will begin in mid-August with the removal of 1.7 to 2.5 million cubic yards of material to deepen Columbia River miles 65 to 67, near Longview, Wash. There is also a one mile section of basalt between river miles 87 and 88 near St. Helens, Ore., that must be blasted and then dredged.
The blasting will occur between November 2009 and February 2010, and create between 250,000 and 500,000 cubic yards of material to dredge. The project should be complete by December 2010.
While most of the navigation channel has been deepened from 40 to 43 feet, these portions that are composed of more rock than sediment will be dredged to between 49 and 51 feet to allow for future maintenance using typical dredging equipment.
This work will close out the Columbia River Channel Improvement project, a two decade-long effort to deepen the 103-mile navigation channel allowing larger, deeper draft ships and heavier-loaded vessels access to inland ports throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The Columbia River moves $18 billion of commerce annually, and is the single largest wheat and barley export gateway in the nation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment