Construction Has Begun On The Picayune Strand Restoration Project!

QE has begun construction on the Picayune Strand Restoration Project!  The purpose of the project is to restore and enhance the wetlands back to pre-development hydrology. The project is located in Collier County, south of I-75 and north of U.S. Highway 41, between the Belle Meade Area and the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.

Implementation of the project will improve the water quality of coastal estuaries by moderating the large salinity fluctuations caused by freshwater point discharge of the Faka Union Canal. The project will aid in protecting the City of Naples eastern Golden Gate wellfield by improving groundwater recharge and help replenish the aquifer system. The project includes a combination of pump stations, spreader basins, canal plugs, and road removal.

QE’s role in this restoration project is the construction of a levee along 7 miles of agricultural land on the western boundary of the Picayune Strand State Forest. This levee will serve as flood mitigation for the farms upon the plugging of the Faka Union Canals and the during the rainy season.

In order to prepare for the project, QE set up a temporary staging area, posted all required signage, and installed turbidity curtains and culvert pipes in the canals, which will start filling with rainwater in the next couple months. Additionally, QE had to improve the entry road by installing stone, and install all required signage, which included the posted speed, panther habitat warning, and “Trucks Entering and Leaving” on both directions of US-41.

In order for the team assigned to the Picayune Strand Restoration Project to work more efficiently and in closer proximity to the job site, QE has built out and set up a remote office just minutes from the project site!

 

 

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