January 24, 2012

O’Brien & Gere has been awarded a $970,000 contract by the New Castle Conservation District (NCCD) for engineering services for the Delaware Bay Dikes Repair and Prevention Project. The project, funded by the State of Delaware, is intended to improve the flood control capabilities of five dike systems, which were originally constructed in the 1600s and include Red Lion Dike, the City of New Castle Dikes (Buttonwood Dike, Broad Marsh Dike, and Gambacorta Dike), and Army Creek Dike. O’Brien & Gere will be providing planning, field investigations, engineering assessment, preliminary and final design plans, and construction cost estimating services for this project, which started in January 2012.

Specifically, O’Brien & Gere will conduct surveying, subsurface investigations, and field inspections of each dike system and will prepare geotechnical and alternatives evaluation reports. Based on these investigations, the Company will identify and develop design measures to raise the top of dike elevations and remedy deficiencies (e.g., vegetative overgrowth, animal burrows, and slope erosion) within each dike system, in accordance with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers minimum standards for flood control management. A risk analysis will also be performed to establish a priority ranking for the dike improvements. Based on the established dike priorities, O’Brien & Gere will prepare design documents for construction of the improvements, provide permitting assistance, and conduct public meetings to inform the local communities of the ongoing project activities.

O’Brien & Gere was selected for its extensive experience in dam, dike, and levee engineering and its recent experience with similar flood control systems, such as the Philadelphia Water Department’s Baxter Raw Water Basin dike along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.

O’Brien & Gere is a member of the United States Society on Dams and a sustaining member of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, organizations devoted to advancing dam safety awareness, training, and funding.
 

About O’Brien & Gere
O’Brien & Gere is an employee-owned engineering and project delivery company with over 850 scientists, engineers, construction, and operations personnel located in 30 offices across the U.S. With a 65-year history of applying technology and innovation, O’Brien & Gere is a leader in providing water, energy, environmental, and facility solutions for its public and private sector clients.

Contact: Kristin Halpin, Press Contact at O'Brien & Gere