CONCORD, Mass. – Concrete repairs to the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier in Providence, Rhode Island, will be conducted under the terms of a $246,902.00 contract recently issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District. Work will be accomplished by New England Building & Bridge Company, Inc., of Providence, Rhode Island. The contract was awarded on Feb. 17, 2017. Once a notice to proceed is issued construction is authorized to start. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2017.

The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier is located at the head of the Narragansett Bay in Providence. Originally built in 1960-1966, the barrier protects downtown Providence against flooding from storm surges.

Although designed and built by the Corps of Engineers, due to the agreement at the time of construction, the barrier was owned and operated by the city of Providence until 2010 when congressional legislation turned the project over to the Corps for operation and maintenance. The barrier and pump house are mainly composed of concrete. The concrete has suffered damage due to deterioration and vehicular impact.

The work consists of: sounding concrete surfaces to determine extent of deterioration; repairing cracks with injection epoxy; removing deteriorated concrete and repairing spalls; installing scuppers at existing drainage locations along the pumping station transformer walls; applying concrete sealer to the floors in the two pumping station transformer areas; installing compression joint seals at the service bridge joints; and removing efflorescence from the bay side of the river barrier.   

The project will be managed by the Corps under the supervision of a Corps’ Quality Assurance Representative to assure compliance with contract requirements. For details on the barrier visit:

www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/FloodRiskManagement/RhodeIsland/FoxPoint.aspx. A map is available at: www.nae.usace.army.mil/Portals/74/docs/Navigation/RI/PRO/PROmap.pdf.

For contract information visit: www.nae.usace.army.mil/BusinessWithUs/Contracting.aspx. For general information visit: www.nae.usace.army.mil/. For Small Business opportunities visit: www.nae.usace.army.mil/BusinessWithUs/SmallBusiness.aspx.