Members of California’s Congressional delegation have called on the Army Corps of Engineers to accelerate construction to repair the Pajaro River levee and provide emergency response for the towns of Pajaro and Watsonville, which bore the brunt of devastating flooding. The letter, signed by Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla and Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Jimmy Panetta (all D-Calif.), also encourages design-build use to expedite the recovery effort.
Specifically, we urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to:
1) provide P.L. 84-99 funds for emergency rehabilitation in a manner that rebuilds the levees to meet higher performance standards,
2) to expedite the requisite engineering reviews and project agreements, 3) to expedite the expenditure of the $149 million in Construction funding provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,
4) to provide additional federal construction funds to fund this project to completion, and
5) to encourage the use of “design-build” or other innovative delivery methods in order to execute this project in an expedited manner.
States nationwide have used design-build in times of crisis to rebuild and recover because of its improved collaboration, innovation and speed-to-market.
“Whether it’s building emergency medical facilities during a pandemic or rebuilding after devastating hurricanes, wildfires, floods or other disasters, design-build has helped communities recover more quickly and cost-effectively by delivering efficient projects on time and within budget. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a long history of delivering successful design-build recovery, and we hope the same will come soon to flood-ravaged communities in California” …Lisa Washington, DBIA Executive Director/CEO.
See specific recovery project examples and learn more about how design-build has delivered timely, cost-effective, and resilient recovery in DBIA’s “In Times of Crisis” download.