Sacramento levee project earns 2012 Flood Control Project of the Year award

Published Jan. 24, 2013
Construction crews work in darkness--when energy demand is lowest--on a stretch of American River levee near the California State University-Sacramento campus Sept. 12, 2012 to close a 900-foot-long gap in a seepage cutoff wall underneath high power lines. 
The Corps has built more than 20 miles of seepage walls into American River levees since 2000. Areas where construction was complicated by utilities, bridges or power lines were set aside for later construction.
The project is part of the American River Common Features project, a joint flood risk reduction effort between the Corps, the state’s Central Valley Flood Protection Board/Department of Water Resources and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency.

Construction crews work in darkness--when energy demand is lowest--on a stretch of American River levee near the California State University-Sacramento campus Sept. 12, 2012 to close a 900-foot-long gap in a seepage cutoff wall underneath high power lines. The Corps has built more than 20 miles of seepage walls into American River levees since 2000. Areas where construction was complicated by utilities, bridges or power lines were set aside for later construction. The project is part of the American River Common Features project, a joint flood risk reduction effort between the Corps, the state’s Central Valley Flood Protection Board/Department of Water Resources and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District and its contractor, Magnus Pacific Corporation, will be recognized with the American Society of Civil Engineers Sacramento Section 2012 Flood Control Project of the Year award for their work on an American River levee project north of the California State University-Sacramento campus during a ceremony Feb. 20 in Sacramento, Calif.

The project is part of the American River Common Features project, a joint flood risk reduction effort between the Corps, the state’s Central Valley Flood Protection Board and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency.

“This project was a combined effort, over several years in the making, and is an important step towards completing a program to reduce flood risk for the city of Sacramento,” said district project manager and team member John Hoge. “This acknowledgement belongs to all project delivery team members, including planning, engineering, contracting, safety, real estate, construction, public affairs, our contractors and our sponsor for their professionalism and dedication.”

For nearly a week of the more than three-month project, construction crews worked only at night to close a 900-foot-long gap in a seepage cutoff wall underneath high power electrical utility lines, just a few feet away from an adjacent apartment complex.

Criteria for the award included resourcefulness in planning and solving design challenges; pioneering in use of materials and methods; and innovations in construction and impact on the physical environment.

Magnus Pacific is a subcontractor for RDA Contracting Inc. of San Rafael.