Specialty Team Assists Corps of Engineers to Boost Hurricane Protection for Port Arthur and Refineries

Freese and Nichols, COWI and CDM Smith are teaming to assist the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ multibilliondollar effort to improve hurricane flood protection along the Gulf Coast.

The FNI, COWI & CDM Smith Joint Venture (FCC-JV) is providing design services to support the USACE Galveston District and Jefferson County (Texas) Drainage District No. 7 on an $863 million project to improve levees and floodwalls protecting a 65-square-mile area that includes Port Arthur, Texas, and adjacent communities.

The Port Arthur and Vicinity (PAV) project is a key component of the USACE’s Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management Program, known as S2G. The S2G program covers 120 miles of the upper Texas coast, providing coastal storm risk management (CSRM) measures to improve the performance and resiliency of the existing hurricane flood protection features at Port Arthur (Jefferson County) and Freeport (Brazoria County). The integrated systemto enhance coastal safety includes new hurricane flood protection features at Orange County.

Port Arthur is a nationally important petroleum processing center and deep-water port (ranked #18 among U.S. ports in tonnage) and represents more than 60% of jet fuel production for the U.S. The PAV project includes: Raising of 27.8 miles of earthen levee and floodwall; replacement of 26 closure structures; pump station fronting wall protection; and integrated erosion protection features throughout.

The FCC-JV is assisting USACE with designing the PAV03A segment that includes raising approximately 5.5 miles of levee and floodwall features, pump station fronting wall protection and roadway and railroad closure gate structures. The PAV03A project is on an aggressive 12-month design schedule in support of Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA18) high-priority project requirements.

Supporting the FCC-JV are several local and regional subcontractors including GENTERRA Consultants, Inc., Tolunay-Wong Engineers, infraTECH Engineers, GreenPoint, Geospatial Technical Partners JV, Vali Cooper International and Strategic Value Solutions.