Cianbro’s team at the company’s facility at Ricker’s Wharf in Portland, Maine, worked diligently on the 5,338-ton concrete entrance structure for the Superflood Basin Project for roughly a year and a half. On Sunday, June 20, 2021, the team watched with pride as the barge carrying the structure and accompanying tugboats headed seaward down Fore River and into Casco Bay, destined for its new home at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
‘Can-do Spirit’ Makes Superflood Float-in a Success 12
THE CHATTER
INFRASTRUCTURE MARKET
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he U.S. Navy is undertaking a superflood basin design and construction at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. The 3.5-acre super flood basin is being built in front of an existing dry dock that artificially raises the water level in the river. Initially constructed for World War II-era submarines, the floor of the Dry Dock 1 is too shallow for current operational requirements. Presently, the shipyard provides artificial ballast and is tidally restricted to only a handful of days per month for docking and undocking evolutions at Dry Dock 1, which is not sustainable in the long term. As part of Phase 310 of this project, awarded in December 2019, Cianbro constructed the Dry Dock West 1 entrance structure at its Ricker’s Wharf facility in Portland, Maine.
