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$243M Project to Cover Fresh Kills' Landfill to Begin This Year

By Nicholas Rizzi | June 15, 2016 3:28pm
 The city will start work for the final closure of the largest section of Fresh Kills Landfill in summer 2016.
The city will start work for the final closure of the largest section of Fresh Kills Landfill in summer 2016.
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DNAinfo/NIcholas Rizzi

TRAVIS — The city will start work on a $243.6 million project to close the largest section of the former Fresh Kills Landfill this year.

The Department of Sanitation awarded Queens-based Tully Construction Co. Inc. a contract this month for the final cover and closure of a more than 460-acre section of Fresh Kills Landfill, which is being turned into a park, a spokeswoman for the agency said.

The parcel of land, dubbed section 1/9, already has nearly 30 percent of its closure work completed and the new contract targets the more than 320-acres still left, Sanitation said.

The project will place final cover over solid waste that's made up of a series of layers that help facilitate the movement of landfill gas to extraction wells, drain water, plant vegetation and more, according to the Parks Department.

Aside from the final cover, the contract also includes storm water and erosion control systems and modifications to the existing landfill gas control, the Sanitation Department said.

Under the contract, Tully Construction will put between 40,000 to 50,000 cubic yards of soil on the section every year for five years, the Sanitation Department said.

The 2,039-acre landfill closed in 2001 and the city started the planning process to turn it into a park in 2003, according to the Parks Department.

The park is opening in sections with the entire space expected to be finished by 2025. Restoration efforts have already seen rare birds returning to the site.

The Sanitation Department started similar closure work for a different section in 2007 and completed it in 2011, with additional work being done the next year in 2012, the spokeswoman said.

Work on section 1/9 will start in the summer and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

The contract also includes work to resurface roads, remove fences and barriers and clean storm water basins after the final cover is done, according to Sanitation.