CONCORD, Mass. – The dredging of the Federal channel in the Chelsea River in the vicinity of the Chelsea Street Bridge in East Boston and Chelsea, Mass., will be completed under the terms of a $4,649,500 contract issued recently by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District.

Work will be accomplished by Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC of Oak Brook, Ill. The project is scheduled to start by about mid-December 2011 and be completed by about the end of February 2012.

“The replacement of the existing Chelsea Street Bridge by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation with a new vertical lift bridge allows the Corps of Engineers to modify the existing Federal navigation channel in the vicinity of the bridge,” said Project Manager Mike Keegan, of the Corps’ New England District, Programs and Project Management Division in Concord, Mass.

The project area is located approximately 125 feet downstream of the bridge to approximately 350 feet upstream of the bridge.

The project will create a minimum 140-175 foot-wide channel in the vicinity of the new Chelsea Street Bridge. Approximately 34,700 cubic yards of dredged material will be removed by mechanical means. The contract includes dredging to widen the channel as well as the removal of an abandoned 930-ton concrete counterweight.

The project will be managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District. All work will be accomplished under the supervision of a Corps of Engineers Quality Assurance Representative to assure compliance with contract requirements.

For more information about Corps of Engineers’ New England District contract solicitations for work, bid results or contract awards go to the website at: http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Business/Contracting/.