In March 2008 the Jacksonville District awarded a contract to construct a thick arch roller compacted concrete dam along the Portuguese River in Puerto Rico.  When completed this dam will provide flood protection for a one hundred year storm event to almost 40,000 people, over 13,000 residential structures, as well as invaluable commercial and civic structures in the city of Ponce.  It is anticipated that this dam will prevent between $300 and $500 million dollars during a 100 year storm event.  

This estimated five year, $375 million dollar project will construct a dam almost 220 feet high with a length of 1,230 feet.  It will have a maximum storage capacity of almost 9,500 acre-feet of water. 

The site preparation requires removing over 500,000 cubic yards of overburden material.  Construction will require emplacing over 350,000 cubic yards of roller compacted concrete to construct this dam. 

A host of additional information can be found about the dam can be found at the following web link:
http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Divisions/ProgramProjectMgt/Branches/
CoastNavAnt/Antilles_PortuguesDam.htm

A video of the proposed dam may be viewed at the following web link:
http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Divisions/ProgramProjectMgt/Branches/
CoastNavAnt/DOCS/VIDEOS/PortuguesDamEnglish.wmv

Project Overview:
http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Divisions/ProgramProjectMgt/Branches/
CoastNavAnt/DOCS/PortuguesDam/MangoldIndustryDay12JUL07.pdf

Roller compacted concrete overview:
http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Divisions/ProgramProjectMgt/Branches/
CoastNavAnt/DOCS/PortuguesDam/HeinsPresentation_Ind.pdf