JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District has awarded a construction contract that will help to restore critical water flow to Biscayne Bay as part of its ongoing efforts to restore America’s Everglades.
The Corps awarded the construction contract for the L-31E Flow Way Culverts 712A and 712B to Sweat, LLC from Orange Park, Florida on Wednesday (Sept. 28) for $777,572. The work involves construction of culverts that will allow water to flow from the canal to adjacent wetlands as part of the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Project in Miami-Dade County.
“The Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Project will provide much-needed benefits to Biscayne Bay and the southern Everglades ecosystem,” said April Patterson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District project manager. “Construction of the L-31E Flow Way will restore fresh water flows to the Bay’s coastal wetlands, which will help to rehydrate and improve the salinity balance for this critical aquatic habitat.”
The Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Project is a component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ largest ecosystem restoration program, conducted in partnership with the South Florida Water Management District. When completed, the project will improve the ecology of Biscayne Bay, including the freshwater wetlands, tidal creeks and near-shore habitat by:
- Rehydrating coastal wetlands
- Reducing freshwater point source discharges to Biscayne Bay that are physiologically stressful to fish and benthic invertebrates in the Bay near canal outlets
- Redistributing available surface water from the existing canal network to wetlands located east and west of the
L-31E Levee through a spreader canal system.
The project’s infrastructure will provide essential benefits during the dry season by redistributing freshwater into coastal wetlands, creeks and impoundments, when watershed runoff is insufficient to prevent hypersaline conditions in Biscayne Bay. The project will also improve the habitat for 21 federally-listed threatened or endangered species, including the West Indian Manatee, Florida Panther and the American Crocodile. It will also create conditions conducive for the reestablishment of oyster reef communities and productive nursery habitat along the shoreline.
For more information on the Corps’ ecosystem restoration efforts in south Florida, visit the Jacksonville District website at http://bit.ly/EvergladesRestoration.
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Release no. 16-080