The proposed work consists of removing the facility’s current concrete wharf and floating work barge and replacing them with a set of floating sectional barges. This entails constructing a new 30’ wide by 70’ long fixed pier with a steel vehicular ramp which will connect to the planned work barge system. This will be constructed of four individual sectional barges that are each 10’ wide by 41’ long by 7’ tall. This set of sectional barges will lead to a set of sectional barges oriented parallel to the shoreline. The parallel set of barges will be 60.8’ wide and up to 744’ long. The work barge system will be secured with up to 11 spud piles, each up to 54” in diameter. The spud piles will not be permanently installed so they can be moved or removed as necessary, or in the event that not all 744’ of sectional barges are in-use and installed at the site.
In addition, Stevens Towing Company is proposing to relocate previously permitted but never constructed travel lift piers 390’ north to the area north of Marine Rail 2. The piers will be the same dimensions (each 365’ long and 14’ 2” wide) with 60’ of clearance between the piers. Lastly, the applicant is proposing to install two sets of guide piles downstream of the 1,000-ton and 150-ton travel lifts to safely guide vessels into the travel lift piers. Each will consist of a 36” steel pipe pile. Three guide piles are proposed at the 1,000-ton lift and two are proposed at the 150-ton travel lift.
The applicant did not propose mitigation for these activities because the only impact from the proposed project is shading associated with replacing the existing work barge system, and will not require excavation/ dredging or filling of wetlands. The project purpose is to perform necessary upgrades to modernize the existing marine towing facility to provide industry-standard services.