Norfolk Dredging of Chesapeake, Virginia, last Friday won a $9.65 million Craney Island Eastward Expansion contract.
The contract – awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District – calls for the mechanical dredging of the top layer of soil material, including debris, to a depth of 4 feet below the mudline within a portion of the footprint of the future main dike of the Craney Expansion project.
According to the Corps, the contractor will separate the debris using screens as the material is loaded into scows, and deposit the dredged material hydraulically within the Craney Island Dredged Material Management Area (CIDMMA).
“ Within the base bid work area the estimated volume to be removed is 284,000 cubic yards and the estimated weight of debris is 7,825 tons. The work potentially could include up to 4 optional areas, each estimated at a volume of 31,500 cubic yards and weight of debris of 840 tons, ” the Corps reported.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) are partnering to construct the Craney Island Eastward Expansion project. Originally designed for a 20 year life span, USACE has been studying ways to extend the life of CIDMMA since the 1970s.
In 1997 the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure authorized Norfolk District to prepare a Feasibility Study to determine the feasibility of expanding Craney Island into the east, and to consider rapid filling of the new dredge material site to provide an area for a new marine terminal.
The Feasibility Study, concluded in 2006, determined that the existing CIDMMA would reach capacity in 2025 and the VPA would run out of cargo handling capacity in 2011.
The project of dual purpose, the Craney Island Eastward Expansion will extend the life of Craney Island as a dredged material management area and provide land for construction of a new marine terminal.