Ferrovial Construcción PR LLC will expand and improve a portion of the Río Piedras Canal in Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan, under a $1.1 billion U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction contract. Representing a portion of the multiphase Río Puerto Nuevo Flood Risk Management Project, it is the Corps’ largest civil works contract in Puerto Rico and the second project award for the contractor.
“The expansion of the Río Piedras canal will help safeguard neighborhoods, businesses and essential services for years to come,” Ferrovial CEO Ignacio Gastón said in a June announcement. The Corps says the contract improvements will prevent $126 million in damages annually.
The scope of work includes widening the lower Piedras River to 160 feet from 80 feet, while strengthening channel walls, dredging to deepen the channel, relocating utilities, and improving river flow and flood resistance.
Protection against flood walls involves building deep concrete shafts on site, anchoring them more than 100 feet underground and connecting them with reinforced concrete beams, according to Ferrovial. The two walls will be between 24 feet and 31 feet tall and span approximately 5,200 feet, with a double wall used in certain areas.
The canal is the main river in the 26-mile Río Piedras watershed. Its watercourses were channelized in the 1950s, leading to flood events for further development of what had been the original floodplain. Congress authorized an effort to fix the problem in 1986, and construction began in 2024.
Future phases include widening other sections of Río Piedras, replacing bridges, building diversion channels and restoring green spaces.
42%
of the $100 billion in natural catastrophe losses were covered by insurance in the first half of 2026 alone
Source: Swiss Re
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