Objective: Construct approximately three miles of levee improvements along the Sacramento River East Levee.

Actions: Project will require degrading the levee to achieve a working platform up to 50 feet wide in order to install seepage cutoff walls up to 135 feet deep and seepage berms in the identified project areas.

Duration:  March 2020 to December 31, 2020

Work Areas (Construction Locations Map):

Miller Park/Sacramento Marina
Miller Park Marina may experience temporary impacts to parking and access. 
Haul Routes/Access Points

Sutterville Rd
Temporary closure of the Sacramento River bike trail north of Sutterville Rd will require alternative bike route
Bike Path Detours Sheet 1 | Sheet 2
Haul Routes/Access Points

Little Pocket
Haul Routes/Access Points

Pocket Area
Garcia Bend Park boat ramp/launch area and boat trailer parking area will be closed. Park will remain open throughout construction. Bike Trail between Garcia Bend Park and Freeport Regional Water Facility will be closed for an extended duration. 
Haul Routes/Access Points

Additional News/Notes: 
Most Recent Construction Update
News Release
Construction Information Presentation Video - March 2020
Construction Information Presentation Slides/Graphics - March 2020

Objective: This water-side bank protection repair project is located within the City of Sacramento, California. This particular reach of Sacramento River bank has been identified as a critical erosion risk and will be brought up to modern bank protection standards.

Duration:  Construction is slated to start in spring 2021 and will continue through October 2021. Site preparation work in advance of construction should be conducted between October 2020-February 2021. 

Work Areas: This repair site is located on the east side of the Sacramento River beginning just downstream of the Westin Hotel (Scott's Seafood) to approximately 1,150 linear feet downstream.

Additional News/Notes:

A virtual public meeting will be held on Monday, July 27, 2020 to discuss the project and accept public comment. The 45-day public comment period for the Draft Supplemental Environmental Assessment/Supplemental Environmental Impact Report closes on August 26, 2020.

Meeting URL:
https://usace.webex.com/usace/j.php?MTID=mac06782aba9a0db9a0f0fe352d3ab314
Optional Meeting number (for WebEx Users with a profile, or if entering the WebEx through a Browser): 146 756 8121

Once a user enters the meeting space, please have the meeting "Call Me" and enter a phone number. Alternately, to Join by phone only, please dial:
1-877-336-1829 or 1-636-651-0002

Enter Access Code 8841488
Enter Security Code 1111 (if prompted)

Webinar Presentation Slides

Notice of Availability
Draft SEA/SEIR Report
Draft SEA/SEIR Appendices

More Information to come in February/March 2021. 

A virtual public meeting was held on Monday, July 27, 2020 to discuss the project and accept public comment. The 45-day public comment period for the Draft Supplemental Environmental Assessment/Supplemental Environmental Impact Report ended on August 26, 2020.

Meeting Primer & Frequently Asked Questions
Webinar Presentation Slides

Notice of Availability
Draft SEA/SEIR Report
Draft SEA/SEIR Appendices

In lieu of our public meeting, which was scheduled for March 12, we have provided the following narrated presentation to explain some of the impacts associated with our construction occurring this season. 
SREL Contract 1 Project Overview Presentation (17:35) 
SREL Contract 1 Presentation Slides/Graphics

We have had discussions about our ability to safely proceed with construction. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and many of our projects are considered “essential” and are moving forward as scheduled. This critical flood risk reduction work is necessary to reduce the flood risk for more than half a million people and $62 billion of infrastructure in the Sacramento region. We are moving forward with construction while adhering to guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State of California.

Delaying our start time even just an hour to 8 a.m. each day would cost us weeks of productivity over the course of the project. This contract is trying to get a lot of work complete in a short amount of time. While we recognize this creates a long day of construction noise, we cannot afford to lose any time if we’re going to meet our target completion of November 2020.

Construction activities will start and stop for many reasons including construction sequencing, monitoring/testing requirements, and getting approvals for activities as required.  This is typical of all construction projects and does not indicate any kind of problem that could impact schedule or our ability to successfully complete the project.

The 1997 flood event produced significant levee underseepage along the American and Sacramento Rivers in areas that had previously undergone remediation (shallow cutoff walls constructed after the 1986 flood event).  Through extensive geotechnical surveying and analysis, it was found that many portions of the Sacramento area levee system do not meet current seepage and stability criteria. The installation of deeper slurry walls and seepage berms at various locations along the Sacramento River East Levee is necessary to reduce flood risk. These improvements are part of a larger plan to provide flood risk reduction to approximately 500,000 residents, $62 billion in property, and numerous transportation routes in the Sacramento area.

The majority of the seepage remediation work along the Sacramento River East Levee will involve installation of deep slurry walls. In order to install a slurry wall, the existing levee is degraded by up to half, a 3-foot-wide trench down the center of the levee is excavated as much as 135 feet deep, and filled with a slurry mix that hardens to a specified strength after required curing time.  Then, the upper portion of the levee is rebuilt with competent, engineered soils. In other areas where a slurry wall alone will not sufficiently address seepage concerns, levee seepage or stability berms, which are areas where additional soil is added as weight to ensure that water cannot reach the surface of the ground and create instability, will be constructed.

The deep mix method (DMM) is one of three ways we are installing seepage cutoff walls in the Sacramento River East Levee, the other two being conventional and jet grout cutoff walls. Using DMM, we can inject engineered slurry material up to 135 feet deep to create a wall that will stop seepage from going through or under the levee structure. Conventional cutoff walls are installed using a long-stick excavator that digs out the fill material while slurry is added; however, these machines have a limited reach (80 feet or less) . When deeper cutoff walls are needed, DMM machines with extremely long augers drill through the center of the levee, injecting and mixing slurry material with native soil to create a low-permeability cutoff wall. This process is much slower but allows for consistent application and setting of the materials where other equipment cannot reach.

2020 construction will occur at five segments along the east side of the Sacramento River, with the majority of the work taking place in the the lower Little Pocket and the Pocket/Greenhaven area from Garcia Bend Park south to the Freeport Water Intake Facility. A map of 2020 construction locations is here.  Due to the size of the project they will be working at several locations with several headings simultaneously. Periodic progress updates will be posted at www.sacleveeupgrades.com and will be sent to our email distribution list throughout the construction season.

There is approximately 3 miles of levee work, located at five different segments, to be completed in the 2020 construction season. A majority of this season's work is focused in the lower Little Pocket and in the Pocket south of Garcia Bend Park. Seepage cutoff wall construction is scheduled to continue through October 2020, while berm construction at Miller Park and Pioneer Reservoir will extend through the end of the year. We expect to complete additional segments annually, and all of the necessary work along the Sacramento River East Levee is scheduled to be completed by 2023.

For the safety of all residents and the general public, access to the work areas will be restricted during working and non-working hours. Access to the levee at locations not within the five construction segments is not impacted by our project. 

Yes, there will be temporary impacts to recreation facilities. Due to the nature of the work, which includes degrading the existing levee, the bike path along the Sacramento River from Garcia Bend Park to the Freeport Regional Water Facility will be closed with no detour. The bike path north of Sutterville Road will also be closed, and cyclists are advised to use the city-approved detour (sheet 1 | sheet 2). Additionally, the boat ramp and boat parking area at Garcia Bend will also be closed, however the Garcia Bend park will remain open. The boat ramp at Miller Park will be closed for a short duration sometime after Labor Day 2020.

Our flood risk is managed by a series of levees, dams and other measures working together to create a system. Our levee system is only as strong as its weakest link, and now many of California’s levees are being asked to do much more than they were built or designed for. Many Central Valley levees are more than 75 years old and aren’t built to modern engineering standards, yet they need to reduce risk to a much larger population than lived behind them when they were built. Long story short: modernizing the levees is going to be costly, time consuming and sometimes inconvenient but it reduces the risk to lives, property and critical infrastructure, and it will be far cheaper than the cost of a major flood disaster in the region.

There is major construction equipment required to construct a slurry wall through the center of the levee - in some cases up to 135 feet deep! The levee is extremely close to large residential neighborhoods, which is why it is so important to reduce the flood risk. We understand that the vibration felt from this major construction project so close to your home can be frightening. Please know the vibration thresholds included in the contract, which are being diligently monitored, are established based on State and Federal guidelines developed to help ensure structural safety can be maintained.

Click on the subscribe button in the left column to get added to our email distribution list. Our intent is to send out updates twice per month to keep you up-to-date on the latest information. You can also visit our project web page here at www.sacleveeupgrades.com , follow our social media accounts on Facebook or Twitter, or contact our public affairs office at spk-pao@usace.army.mil   or 916-557-5100.

Contract Type: Service

Contract Magnitude: $500K-$1M

Bids Due: The contract is scheduled to be advertised in Summer 2020

Estimated Contract Award: October 2020

Estimated Period of Performance: October 2020 – February 2021

​Contract Type: Construction

Contract Magnitude: $25-$100M

Bids Due: This contract is scheduled to be advertised in Fall 2020

Estimated Contract Award: January 2021

Estimated Period of Performance: April 2021 - September 2021

Additional Information:
Industry Day Presentation - April 2020

Contract Type: Construction

Notice: Not Yet Available

Bids Due: This contract is scheduled to be advertised in Fall 2021

Estimated Contract Award: January 2022

Estimated Period of Performance: Construction: April 2022 – September 2022