Nearly $210 million contract awarded to deepen next stretch of St. Johns River, as part of larger harbor deepening project

Jacksonville, FL — Construction is set to begin in December, as the US Army Corps of Engineers has now awarded its second contract to deepen the next 5 mile stretch of the St. Johns River.

This ties into the overall Jacksonville harbor deepening project, which will deepen the current channel from 40 feet to 47 feet to help accommodate larger ships calling on the port, among other upgrades.

Project Manager Jason Harrah says this extra 7 feet of depth will boost the local economy.

"We're seeing it [growth] now. I think Jacksonville Port Authority saw the highest levels of growth they've seen in their Asian container ship business. So, we are improving the harbor infrastructure and we want to provide a deeper and wider navigation channel for these Asian ships that are calling Jacksonville now and will continue to call in the future," explains Harrah.

The first segment of the harbor deepening project had its first 'scoop' earlier this year and covers the first 3 miles of the total 11-mile project.

This latest segment will include dredging roughly 5.7 million cubic yards of material near the Naval Station Mayport runway to the east tip of La Baron Island.

The contract for this segment has been awarded to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC, of Illinois, with a total contract value of $209,813,750.  Construction is expected to take roughly 5 years.

Behind this ‘Contract B’, the US Army Corps of Engineers says it will be awarding Contract C and D in the coming years.