Congressman Guest speaks with USACE personnel on current projects

Congressman Michael Guest joined US Army Corps of Engineers personnel on the river to discuss several ongoing projects.

The Armor 1 project deals with the future revetment of the Mississippi River. It will replace the mat sinking unit which has currently been in operation since the 1940’s. MacGregor, which is part of Cargotec, secured winch systems from SIA Solutions LLC, whom will serve as the overall robotic systems integrator for the project.

MacGregor will join a team comprised of SIA Solutions, National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) and Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI).

The Natchez National Cemetery Bluff Stabilization Project seeks to deal with ongoing erosion problems which threaten the cemetery. An extreme amount of rainfall this spring had the Corps of Engineers attempting to mitigate the risk of erosion. As of now, no grave sites seem to have been impacted. Tarps and sandbags are placed along the bluff which serve to redirect the flow of rainfall into the city’s storm water drainage system.

Federal funds have been approved and The National Cemetery Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are both expected to be awarded a construction contract sometime in mid-July to solve the issue.

The Mississippi River and Tributaries Project and channel improvement seeks to improve stabilization and protection of the riverbanks.  Both are essential to flood control and navigation components of the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project (MR&T).

Areas of focus will be cutoffs, which will serve to shorten the river and lower flood heights, revetment, which will serve to prevent meandering of the river, dikes, which will deepen the channel to direct water flow and dredging to realign the channel.

The MR&T Project was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1928 in response to the flood of 1927. A unified system of public works was considered a necessity to put in place in the lower Mississippi Valley to help secure flood risk management and provide an efficient navigation channel.