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  • October

    Pablo Vázquez-Ruiz (center) leads a tour of the Portugués Dam project for a group of engineering students from the American Concrete Institute, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. As president of the Association of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico, Vázquez-Ruiz places a high priority on continuing education and on encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

    Pablo Vázquez-Ruiz assumes leadership role with vision of promoting STEM education

    Pablo Vázquez-Ruiz, south Puerto Rico resident engineer, has been elected as president of the Ponce Chapter of the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico (CIAPR in Spanish acronym) as well as treasurer of the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico. Vázquez-Ruiz has been resident engineer for the Ponce Resident Office since April 2001.

  • August

    Hansler Bealyer (right), chief of the Real Estate Acquisition Branch, accompanies engineers Tony Smith (center) and Tim Gysan (left) on a River Acres site visit, to ensure real estate interests are appropriately addressed.

    Real estate plays important role in civil works and military projects

    More than a decade after leaving Jacksonville District as a realty specialist to assume an 18-month tour with the Installation Management Agency, Europe, Audrey Ormerod has come full circle, returning to the district as the Real Estate Division chief.
  • Portugués Dam (looking upstream) now fills the river valley as it nears completion near Ponce, Puerto Rico. Construction is expected to wrap up by the end of the year, with operational testing taking place for most of 2014.

    Portugués Dam nears completion

    Despite the threat from Tropical Storm Chantal, more than 30 residents from Ponce, Puerto Rico and surrounding areas attended a meeting July 9 to learn more about Jacksonville District’s Portugués Dam, which is nearing completion after several years of design and construction.

  • July

    Mike Ornella, Interagency and International Services branch chief, addresses celebration attendees. Ornella says the small IIS program operates on a limited budget but contributes a considerable percentage to the district’s full time equivalent.

    District celebrates 19 years of Interagency and International Services support

    Staff gathered Thursday, June 6, to celebrate the 19th birthday of Jacksonville District’s Interagency and International Services (IIS) program. Joining the celebration were two former employees who were instrumental to the program’s creation.

  • May

    Looking upstream to its source in the central mountains, the Río Puerto Nuevo basin drains 24 square miles of metropolitan San Juan, 75 percent of which is highly developed with a population of 250,000. The plan of improvements includes channels, high velocity channels, debris basins and modifications to bridges, in an effort to protect the population against a 100-year flood.

    An overview of projects and missions in the Antilles

    Puerto Rico, at its widest point, is 110 miles long from east to west and only 40 miles wide from north to south. The main mountain range, La Cordillera Central and the smaller cordilleras that run east-west through the center of the island are sparsely populated, but take up half of the available land. Most of the population lives in the narrow coastal band around the cordilleras. In the mountainous region above the city of Ponce in the south, slopes average 45 degrees and Cerro de Punta, the highest point of the island, at 4,393 feet, is only 14 miles from the coast.
  • Unexploded ordnance, found by a young girl on Culebra, Puerto Rico. Old military munitions are not always easily identifiable and should always be considered dangerous, regardless of their age, condition or location.

    Injury underscores importance of 3R safety message

    The potential for encountering military munitions on Culebra and in the surrounding waters is high, and the Corps consistently informs the community about that possibility while promoting safety precautions.

  • April

    The “Flamboyán” tree, known in English as a Royal Poinciana or Flame Tree, is named for its flamboyant display of orange-red petals. The tree, planted by Corps employees in 1976, still graces the grounds of the Antilles office today.

    A brief history of the Antilles Office through the eyes of the people

    If the responsibility for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Puerto Rico was a dance, it would probably be closer to the currently popular “Harlem Shuffle” than a salsa. Though responsibility for the office was shuffled over the years from New York to Panama, then to Puerto Rico, and finally to Jacksonville District, the importance of having a Corps office located on the island has never shifted. Corps civilian and military activities in Puerto Rico include administration, coastal defense projects, facilities construction on military bases and flood risk reduction, as well as maintenance and improvement of inland waterways and harbors. Specific navigation projects have included Arecibo Harbor, San Juan Harbor, and Mayaguez Harbor in Puerto Rico.

  • March

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District’s Antilles Office, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

    The relationship between the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

    The first of this series of four stories about the history of Jacksonville District’s Antilles Office described the location of the archipelago of islands that includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This installment will look at how Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are related to the United States.

  • February

    The Antilles is an archipelago or chain of islands, including several islands that are part of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

    Where in the world are the Antilles and Puerto Rico?

    Jacksonville District’s area of responsibility includes the Antilles and Puerto Rico, but some have only a vague idea of the location of the Antilles, its relationship with the United States, and what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does there. This first installment in a series provides a bird’s eye view of the Antilles.

  • January

    Approximately 11,000 lineal feet of pipeline and 10 underground storage tanks were removed from the former Arecibo Airdrome in Puerto Rico.

    From state-of-the-art school to complex environmental projects, IIS sets the standard

    Innovation and outside-of-the-box thinking were some of the keys to success for the Interagency and International Support (IIS) Branch in 2012. Jacksonville District has begun work on the Antilles Elementary School at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. The $51 million project is being constructed for the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) under a design-build contract awarded in June 2012 to Gilbane Building Company.

  • December

    Alberto Gonzalez, Portugues Dam project manager, makes a point while speaking about the transition to a Roller Compacted Concrete Dam during a presentation at a conference in Zaragoza, Spain. Gonzalez was one of three Jacksonville District representatives who participated. Photo courtesy Alberto Gonzalez.

    Portugues Dam subject of international conference

    From Argentina to Vietnam, 350 representatives from 39 countries gathered in Zaragoza, Spain in late October to discuss dams, and included in the discussion was Jacksonville District’s Portugues Dam. The meeting was billed as the Sixth International Symposium on Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) Dams. Three representatives of Jacksonville District spoke at the event: Portugues Dam Project Manager Alberto Gonzalez, Portugues Dam Resident Engineer Pablo Vázquez-Ruiz and Portugues Dam Project Geologist John Conway.