Poplar Island Rehabilitation

Poplar Island has been developed as a wildlife habitat for the abundant waterfowl of the Chesapeake Bay and as a dredge disposal area for the Port of Baltimore. The island will be developed in three phases. The Tidewater Skanska contract is for approximately $40M and is for Phase II. Phase III is planned for a future date.

Phase II enlarges Phase I by the addition of nearly 3 miles of new heavily armored exterior dike and greater than one mile of interior sand dike to create three cells. Two of the cells contain seven bird habitat islands with one of these cells being developed as a wetland. The third cell is for offloading barges of dredge material. This third cell will eventually be blocked off, using materials staged by Tidewater, to create additional dredge disposal capacity.

Tidewater’s project involves dredging of about 2,000,000 cubic yards of material for dikes and importing approximately 300,000 tons of quarry rock for embankment protection and roadway. Also included is a series of valve controlled spillways to regulate the flow of water.
Approximately 40 percent of the contract value was subcontracted out and the remainder was accomplished by an average Tidewater workforce of about 55. The hardy Tidewater personnel incurred an especially harsh winter of 2000-2001 and look forward to the pending major demobilization.

Client:
Army Corps of Engineers

Location:
Talbot County, MD

Contract Value:
$41,500,000

Duration:
22 months

Further Information:
Tidewater Skanska, Inc.
809 South Military Highway
Virginia Beach, VA 23464
Phone 757 420 4140
Fax 757 420 3551