CORPS AWARDS CONTRACTS FOR RIVER WORK

Contracts for almost $3 million have been awarded for stone repairs to revetments and dikes in the Mississippi River, from the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at Cairo, Ill., to the mouth of the White River in Arkansas.

Luiseno Inc., of Morrilton, Ark., has received the $2,947,112 contract from the Memphis District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A number of the projects are planned along the Mississippi River in Missouri and Kentucky, said Jim Pogue of the Memphis District.

Revetments and dikes are a critical part of the Corps' comprehensive plant to control and maintain the inland river system, said Jim Gutshall, a Memphis District engineer.

Revetments, in the form of concrete mattresses, are placed along the river bank and out to a predetermined point on the river bottom, said Gutshall. "This process provides a long-term stabilization and helps prevent bank erosion," he said.

Some dikes are used to direct the flow of the river. They contract the width of the channel, control the alignment and prevent secondary channels from forming.

"Together, revetments and dikes prevent the river from meandering and hold the navigation channel," said Bob Anderson, of the Corps' Memphis District public affairs office.

"A meandering river could endanger towns and industry along the river and damage the protective levee system," said Anderson.

Revetments and dikes are scheduled to be worked on between river mile markers 925 to 928.

That translates into Moore's Island, below Wolf's Island, around the 928 marker in Missouri and near Columbus, Ky., and at mile 926 on the Kentucky side of the Mississippi.

Revetments and dike maintenance are also scheduled near Island 18, downstream from Caruthersville, and at Fritz Landing on the Tennessee side of the river, upstream from Caruthersville, at mile 857.

Other maintenance work is scheduled at mile 859 and at mile 868, near Tiptonville, Tenn.

The bulk of the work will be performed in August and early September.