West Coast Surveying for USACE Dredging Projects
The West Coast Hopper contract consists of three individual dredge projects: San Francisco Entrance Channel, Humboldt Bay Entrance Channel, and the entrance to the Columbia River from Astoria to Longview. Woolpert has been contracted as a third-party surveyor for the USACE to conduct conditional surveys in various locations. These surveys have provided the dredgers with updated material surface conditions to optimize their operations and assist in efficiently dredging to project grade.
Woolpert utilizes survey vessels outfitted with R2Sonic multibeam sonar equipment and Applanix POSMV position and motion systems. Dredge locations in San Francisco and Humboldt utilize RTK base stations to broadcast corrections to the vessel as opposed to operations on the Columbia River where tide monitoring stations are implemented for vertical accuracy to correlate Columbia River Datum (CRD).
Survey episodes are coordinated around weather conditions and sea state, since most areas are located in challenging open water environments. The Columbia River Bar and Humboldt Bar, for example, are considered two of the most dangerous bars on the west coast. In addition to the dredge survey site, Woolpert also surveyed offshore disposal zones for these projects to monitor material placement.
Client
United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE)
Location
West Coast, CA