Unalaska, AK – The Army Corps of Engineers finally received enough funding to award the contract to build the floating breakwaters for the new Carl E. Moses Boat Harbor. The project will be completed by Pacific Pile & Marine, the same company that is building the inner harbor floats.

Eleven million dollars of the $12.5 million necessary for the project comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Stephen Boardman, the chief of civil projects management branch at the Corps of Engineers in Alaska, said that the project was not in the first list of priorities for the ARRA funding. However, when other projects either didn't use all of their funds or couldn't actually be built, the money was reallocated to second tier projects, like the breakwaters.

"The fact that the ARRA money was available, I think was a great opportunity for us to finish this project. Otherwise working it through the more traditional appropriations process, it would have taken a couple, three more years before we had full funding to finish the project," Boardman said.

The two concrete floating breakwaters will be built in 98 foot segments and towed up to Unalaska from Tacoma, Washington. One will be 476 feet long and the other will measure 804 feet. They will be moored to the sea floor using stud-link anchor chain and large concrete anchor blocks.

Boardman said the Corps could not use rubble mound breakwaters in these areas because the water is too deep, but the floating breakwaters will still help protect the harbor.

"The float will have an ability to knock the wave down. But because of the depth of water it would be too cost prohibitive to build rock. The floater does not knock down the same wave action, but because it's really parallel to it and not directly perpendicular to it, less wave will go in underneath the floating, if you will, and then attack the boats."

Pacific Pile and Marine has two years to complete the contract. The entire breakwater system cost the Corps $21 million, including some locally contributed funds.