Omaha, Neb. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, awarded Tuesday a $12.9 million contract for the construction of a 3-mile setback of Missouri River Levee Unit L-575 north from Highway 2 opposite of Nebraska City, Neb.
The contract was awarded to Weston Solutions, Inc., and includes an option for a 3/4-mile setback levee south of the highway that will be awarded when necessary real estate actions have been completed by the levee sponsor.
The entire setback alignment will stretch from river mile 565 to river mil 561.5 on the Iowa side of the Missouri River in Fremont County. It will be offset from the original levee by up to several thousand feet.
This particular stretch of levee suffered excessive damage and seepage during the Flood of 2011.
"Because of the miles and miles of seepage we were seeing, we know that there’s a lot of damage to the subgrade of that levee," said Bryan Flere, Omaha District’s levee safety coordinator. "Because of extensive damage, an inline fix would be more expensive than the setback."
Roughly some 500,000 cubic yards of material will be used in the construction of the new setback alignment. The entire project is scheduled to be completed in 2012.
The new setback will return this portion of L-575 to its pre-flood status and level of flood risk reduction.
"This is a win-win situation – by setting the levee back, we’re increasing the floodway and realigning the levee on to a more stable foundation," Flere said.
In response to the Flood of 2011, the District Engineer for the Omaha District identified a need for a special execution cell or team to engage in time-sensitive rehabilitation of flood controls structures - including dams and levees - in the Missouri River Basin. Drawing on funding provided by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act signed Dec. 23, 2011, by President Barack Obama, the Omaha District Systems Restoration Team was established to focus the vast skills and abilities of the district to execute an estimated $280 million in repairs on 18 levee repair projects and $234 million on some 100 projects at the mainstems and related flood control structures along the Missouri River.
For regular updates on the repair efforts to flood control structures in the Missouri River Basin, visit the Omaha District’s Flood 2011 Repairs web page at http://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/op-e/srt.html.