Engineering consultancy COWI has secured a contract for the Hudson River Ground Stabilisation Project (HRGS) in New York.
As part of the contract, COWI will serve as the engineer of record for the project, which is led by Weeks Marine, a marine construction and dredging company. The HRGS project represents the first major construction contract awarded by the Gateway Development Commission as part of the Hudson Tunnel Project.
The stabilisation work on the Hudson River will prepare the riverbed on its eastern side for future construction of a 3.8km twin-tube rail tunnel that will link New York and New Jersey.
Acting as the project’s design manager, COWI is also responsible for creating a containment structure. This structure will enable deep soil mixing work to proceed and prevent sediment stirred up by the mixing operations from dispersing into the river.
Working at depths of 40-50ft, the containment structure will be designed to withstand river currents and storm events and allow for tidal movements of up to 5ft each day.
Covering a 1,200-long section of the riverbed, COWI will collaborate with Keller Group, a geotechnical engineering firm, which will carry out the deep soil mixing work. The work is scheduled in two phases, completing 600ft at a time to reduce the impact on river traffic.
The Gateway Program is a large-scale rail investment that will improve transportation reliability between Newark, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Station in New York City. The project will also increase rail capacity along a critical section of the Northeast Corridor, the most used passenger rail line in the US.
COWI vice president John Chapman said: “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.”
The design phase of the HRGS project is currently underway, with an initial 300ft test section expected to begin this summer. The full stabilisation work on the Hudson River is set for completion by January 2027.
In July this year, the Hudson Tunnel Project secured complete financing as the Gateway Development Commission finalised an agreement with the US Federal Transit Administration, securing $6.88bn in federal funding.
Additionally, the commission closed on $4.06bn in loans from the Build America Bureau to cover the local share of the project.
