GALVESTON, Texas (March 1, 2013) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, awarded a task order contract in the amount of $260,792.34 to J.M. Davidson Inc., for mooring buoy installation and repair work at the Port Arthur, Bolivar, Pelican Island and Chocolate Bayou mooring areas along the Texas coast.
Mooring buoys, or cylindrical floatation structures, are anchored into the channel bottom of the waterway and spaced at regular intervals on each bank to provide mooring points for barges and commercial vessels.
“Work will include reinstalling 18 buoys and repairing 22 buoys along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway,” said Eric Russek, USACE Galveston District Project Operations Branch civil engineer. “These mooring buoys are provided on each bank for upbound and downbound commercial navigation traffic to ensure a safe and expeditious waterway for all users.”
According to Russek, the mooring buoys facilitate commercial tow traffic entering and leaving ports and industrial complexes in addition to providing mooring points in the event of changing weather conditions.
“Damaged or missing buoys impact the commercial towing industry by delaying or increasing transit time of various products and commodities,” said Russek. “When buoys are unavailable, barges are sometimes doubled-up on mooring buoys which reduces the safe passing distance between transiting tows and ‘parked’ barges.”
Work is expected to begin in March 2013.
The 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.
To learn more about Navigation on the Texas Coast, visit http://www.swg.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation.aspx. 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.