CONCORD, Mass. – Maintenance dredging and advance maintenance dredging of the Cape Cod Canal Federal Navigation Project in Bourne and Sandwich, Mass., will be completed under the terms of a $5,899,400.00 contract recently awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District.
Work will be accomplished by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, LLC, of Oak Brook, Illinois. Dredging is scheduled to start in early January 2016 and take about 2 – 3 months to complete. The contract was awarded on Nov. 19, 2015.
“Work consists of removing approximately 182,000 cubic yards of clean sand and gravel from six areas in the authorized, 32-foot-deep by 500-foot-wide, main ship channel and the 25-foot-deep East Mooring Basin portions of the project,” said Project Manager Bill Kavanaugh, of the Corps’ New England District, Programs and Project Management Division in Concord, Mass. “Shoaling in the main ship channel consists of large wave formations. These formations cause draft restrictions, tidal delays and hazardous conditions for deep-draft commercial vessels transiting the Canal.”
The Cape Cod Canal is a toll-free, open-to-all waterway that connects Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Bay. The project is used by both commercial and recreational vessels and eliminates the need to transit around Cape Cod, a distance of approximately 135 miles and a more hazardous route.
The Corps plans to beneficially re-use the clean sand dredged material from the Canal project as beach-fill on a 2,500-foot-long eroded section of Town Neck Beach in Sandwich, Mass. The town of Sandwich is providing $2,957,900 in funding to place the sandy material directly onto the beach and for dune grass plantings. The work will be performed by a hydraulic dredge with pump out capability and all ancillary equipment necessary for direct beach placement of the dredged material. The environmental dredging window for this work is Nov. 1 through March 31.
For details on the Cape Cod Canal navigation project visit: www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/Navigation/Massachusetts/CapeCodCanal.aspx.
A map is available at: www.nae.usace.army.mil/Portals/74/docs/Navigation/MA/CCC/CCCmap.pdf. The project will be managed by a Corps’ Quality Assurance Representative to assure compliance with contract requirements. 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.