Herbert Hoover Dike Rehabilitation Project Continues

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, has awarded a contract to replace a water control structure within Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD) as part of the ongoing rehabilitation project for the earthen structure surrounding Lake Okeechobee.

USACE awarded the contract on Friday (August 19) for $16.8 million to Harry Pepper & Associates of Jacksonville, Fla.

The contract calls for replacement of Culvert IP-3 (S-291) along the Indian Prairie Canal in Glades County northwest of the lake. This water control structure provides irrigation and drainage to landowners in the area. Work on this project is expected to be complete in early 2019.

“We continue to make substantial progress on rehabilitation of the dike,” said Tim Willadsen, Herbert Hoover Dike Rehabilitation Project Manager. “With this contract, we now have 21 structures in various phases of replacement, which helps reduce the risk of dike failure due to the erosion and loss of material that had taken place around the old structures.”

In 2011, the Corps began a program to address the 32 federally-owned water control structures as part of its ongoing rehabilitation efforts around the dike. Other risk-reduction measures include installation of a 21.4-mile, partial cutoff wall between Port Mayaca and Belle Glade.

The Corps has also completed filling of a quarry near Pahokee, and removal of vegetation on the dike. The total investment since 2001 is more than $800 million.

Hebert Hoover Dike is a 143-mile, earthen dam that surrounds Lake Okeechobee, the second largest freshwater lake completely within the United States.

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