Posted on October 30, 2024
COWI has been awarded a contract for the Hudson River Ground Stabilization Project (HRGS) in New York. COWI will serve as the engineer of record for the project led by marine construction and dredging company, Weeks Marine. The HRGS project marks the first heavy construction contract awarded by the Gateway Development Commission on the Hudson Tunnel Project.
The Hudson River ground stabilization work will strengthen the seabed on the East side of the Hudson River to enable the future construction of a new 3.8km twin-tube rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey. Also working as the design manager on the project, COWI is responsible for the development of a containment structure. The specialized design structure will enable deep soil mixing works to go ahead and will inhibit turbidity generated by the mixing operations from flowing into the river.
Working with water depths between 12m – 15m the containment structure design will be strong enough to withstand strong currents and storm conditions while leaving breathing room for up to 1.5m of tide each day. Covering a 365m section of seabed, COWI will work closely with geotechnical engineering company, Keller Group, as it executes the deep soil mixing works. The work will be delivered in two phases, completing a 183m section at a time to minimize impact on vessel traffic.
The Gateway Program is a comprehensive rail investment that will improve reliability and resiliency between Newark, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Station in New York City. It will also create new capacity for a critical section of the Northeast Corridor – the most heavily used passenger rail line in the United States.
John Chapman, Vice President at COWI comments, “We’re thrilled to be contributing our expertise to such a vital infrastructure initiative. After more than a decade of following plans for The Gateway Program closely, we are delighted to be involved in the first heavy construction contract awarded on the project. We understand the critical importance of this development and look forward to collaborating with Weeks Marine and Keller Group to ensure its success.”
Design work is already underway with a nominally 91m test section expected to start this summer. The full HRGS project is expected to be completed by January 2027.
