On April 14, the U.S. Department of Defense announced multiple construction-related contract awards, leading a major milestone in a long-running effort to block invasive species from entering the Great Lakes.
JF Brennan Co. Inc., based in La Crosse, Wis., won a $113.9 million firm-fixed-price contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build cutting-edge deterrents for the Brandon Road Interbasin project on the Des Plaines River in Joliet, Illinois.
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The $1.15 billion project is a partnership between the Corps and the states of Illinois and Michigan and is structured in three construction increments. Increment I is funded through a cost-sharing agreement that unlocks $274 million in federal funds, including $226 million from the Jobs and Infrastructure Investments Act, along with $114 million in state funding.
The contract, awarded April 11 by the Corps Rock Island District, is the second and final construction award under Increment I of the project, completing work begun under a $15.5 million site preparation and rock removal contract issued in November 2024 to Miami Marine Services. This phase was completed in July 2025.
Deterrents serve as the first line of defense against invasive species and include an automated boat cleaning system, a bubble curtain and an acoustic deterrent, along with support facilities and an upstream boat ramp, the district said.
The systems are scheduled to come online in the summer of 2028, according to Corps project records, and work under Brennan’s contract is expected to end in April 2029.
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The rest of the work will be delivered in two future construction increments. Increment II includes a discharge lock, descending right bank wall and channel rock excavation, while Increment III will add an engineered channel acoustic system, electrical deterrent system, channel structural components and a downstream boat ramp.
The wash lock won’t be operational until fall 2031 at the earliest, with the full engineered channel about a year later.
The rendering shows the planned design of the Brandon Road Interbasin project in Joliet, Illinois, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is installing layered deterrents, including acoustic systems, bubble curtains and an electric barrier, to prevent invasive species from reaching the Great Lakes.
Site map courtesy of the US Army Corps of Engineers
Project management was transferred from the Rock Island District to the Detroit District on April 9. ENR has previously reported on the project, including a funding-related delay in early 2025 tied to a deferred title closing and a subsequent White House memorandum in May 2025 asserting federal support.
The Brandon Road project is designed to prevent invasive carp and other species from reaching Lake Michigan through the Illinois Waterway system, protecting a Great Lakes ecosystem that supports a multibillion-dollar regional economy linked to fishing, shipping and recreation.
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Additional bodies, Navy awards advanced infrastructure works
In California, R2BUILD, Irvine, Calif., received an $18.9 million contract from the Corps’ Sacramento District to build new facilities at Englebright Dam, including a 5,000-square-foot central building and a 4,200-square-foot maintenance shop with a storage mezzanine. Completion is scheduled for March 2028.
The Corps also awarded an $11.7 million contract to DMYLES Inc., Niagara Falls, NY, to dredge about 250,000 cubic yards of sediment from the upper Cuyahoga River into Cleveland Harbor in two seasonal windows this year: May 15-June 30 and October 1-November 30. nearly $789 million in regional business income and employment income. The harbor was last dredged in 2025, when 255,651 m3 of material was removed.
The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command awarded a $100 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple-award combined construction contract to six companies for new construction, repair, alteration, and demolition at Naval Station Rota in Spain, and potentially other facilities in that country and Portugal through March 2034. Thirteen bids were received.
An initial $4.9 million task order was issued to Sociedad Española de Montajes Industriales SA for a major interior and exterior renovation of a bowling facility at the base.
Also April 14, Baker Jacobs JV, Pittsburgh, won a $95 million firm-fixed-price IDIQ contract through April 2031 for multidisciplinary architect-engineer services in the NAVFAC Atlantic global area of operations, for which there were six qualification packages.
