Corps awards contract for bank stabilization near Fountain City, Wisconsin

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, awarded a $347,400 contract to LS Marine, Inc., out of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, Nov. 16, for bank stabilization at Wilds Bend, near Fountain City, Wisconsin, in Pool 5 of the Mississippi River. Wilds Bend is a temporary dredged material, or river sand, storage site.

The Corps’ contractor will modify the site and install riprap vanes to prevent further erosion. The work will occur in the fall of 2024 with the potential for establishing vegetation, such as willow cuttings in the spring of 2025.

This project is funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The St. Paul District navigation program provides a safe, reliable, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable waterborne transportation system on the Upper Mississippi River for the movement of commercial goods and for national security needs. To do this, the district maintains a 9-foot navigation channel and 13 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa. Keeping this system open is vital to the nation’s economy. Nearly 13 million tons of commodities passed through Lock and Dam 10 in 2021. This included nearly 8.5 million tons of farm products such as corn and soybeans. The industries making these shipments saved approximately $430 million by using the inland waterways instead of overland shipping methods.

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