District awards $149,990 contract to install RADAR reflectors along SNWW jetty

Published June 19, 2014

GALVESTON, Texas (June 19, 2014) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District awarded a $149,990 contract to IEA Inc., a small business, to install RADAR reflectors along the outer one mile of the Sabine Neches Waterway (SNWW) southern rock jetty in Jefferson County, Texas.

Jetties, also known as stone breakwaters, minimize wave action along the shoreline and prevent sediment from filling the entrances to ship channels along the Texas coast, reducing dredging maintenance cycles.

“The jetty has been settling (subsiding) since its original construction between the 1880s and 1930s,” said Christopher Frabotta, chief of the Navigation Branch for the USACE Galveston District. “Portions of the south jetty are currently submerged underwater during high tide events and subsequently not visible to marine RADAR equipment during high tide.”

According to Frabotta, the district coordinated the RADAR reflector installation contract with representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard (Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur), the Sabine Pilots Association and the Sabine-Neches Navigation District.

“Installation of the RADAR reflectors will significantly enhance marine safety in the Sabine-Neches inlet area by making the outer one mile of the South Jetty visible by marine RADAR equipment during all tide cycles,” said Frabotta.

USACE Galveston District was established in 1880 as the first engineer district in Texas to oversee river and harbor improvements. The district is directly responsible for maintaining more than 1,000 miles of channel, including 270 miles of deep draft and 750 miles of shallow draft as well as the Colorado River Locks and Brazos River Floodgates.

For more news and information, visit www.swg.usace.army.mil. Find us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/GalvestonDistrict, or follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/USACEGalveston.


Release no. 14-028