ARRA-funded project contributes to safe, efficient navigation
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Jan. 31, 2011) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District has completed work on a $6 million project, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, to restore a portion of the Intracoastal Waterway to its authorized dimensions and prepare for future maintenance dredging events.
The Dec. 30, 2010 construction completion of Dredged Material Management Area (DMMA) MSA 641 was the second of two phases of the ARRA-funded project. The Corps and its contractor, Brittan Industries, Inc. of Bakersfield, Calif. built an 11-acre disposal area in Palm Beach County, Fla. that will have the capacity to hold approximately 38,000 cubic yards of dredged material. Construction of this DMMA will enable future maintenance dredging events on the Intracoastal Waterway between Jacksonville and Miami, Fla. to occur on a timely basis. It is expected that the DMMA will receive its first deposit of dredged material in 2012 as part of the Palm Beach Reaches 3 & 4 dredging project.
On January 4, 2010, the Corps and its contractor, Cottrell Contracting Corp. of Chesapeake, Va., completed dredging a 3.5-mile length of the Palm Valley North Reach segment of the Intracoastal Waterway to its authorized 12-foot depth. The $4.7 million project was completed several months ahead of schedule, enabling safer, more efficient transit of cargo along the waterway between J. Turner Butler Boulevard and Palm Valley. Approximately 260,000 cubic yards of material was deposited in an upland disposal area about four miles south of the dredging area.
The Intracoastal Waterway – Jacksonville to Miami Project was co-sponsored by the Florida Inland Navigation District. It was one of about 30 district projects that received funding through ARRA and one of a dozen projects that were completed throughout the district, which encompasses the state of Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in 2010.
Release no. 11-07