Location
United States / Americas
Project record
Niagara River Emerald Shiner Fish Passage
USACE Buffalo completed a USD 13.4 million hydraulic fish passage along the Niagara River seawall at Freedom Park. The programme combined a USD 1.6 million, 78-foot demonstration built in 2022 with a USD 11.8 million, 700-foot full phase delivered by Bidco Marine Group from March 2025 to May 2026. Repairs to the timber crib wall, steel plating, concrete and grout work, and concrete-filled metal baffles reduce near-wall current velocities for emerald shiner moving upstream after spawning.
Segment
Coastal infrastructure
Status
USACE reports the 700-foot full phase completed in May 2026 and the combined 778-foot fish passage opened with a ribbon-cutting on 23 July 2026 / Confirmed
Last checked
23 July 2026
Coverage
Related sectors
Coastal infrastructure is the primary work classification. Related sectors connect this record to adjacent marine delivery and market coverage.
Subject index
Related subjects
These subject pages bring together related projects, technical articles, reports, and evidence methods.
Project anatomy
Contract scope and delivery roles
- Client / authority
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and City of Buffalo
- Delivery parties
- Bidco Marine Group - demonstration and full-phase marine construction contractor
- Contract route
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funded the work through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. USACE awarded Bidco Marine Group a USD 1.6 million demonstration contract on 23 June 2021 and an USD 11.8 million full-phase contract on 16 September 2024. USACE describes the combined USD 13.4 million programme as fully federally funded.
- Execution window
- The 78-foot demonstration was constructed in February 2022. The 700-foot full phase mobilized on 31 March 2025 and USACE reports construction from March 2025 through May 2026. Project partners marked completion on 23 July 2026.
- Works package
- A 778-foot river-edge fish passage made up of the earlier 78-foot demonstration and the 700-foot full phase. The full phase repaired the timber crib wall, installed steel plate within two feet above and below the typical waterline, repaired concrete surfaces, filled voids with grout and concrete, and attached concrete-filled metal baffles selected from the demonstration designs.
- Marine interfaces
- The work sits along the Niagara River seawall at Freedom Park, extending toward Bird Island Pier and the Black Rock Canal. Delivery involved shore and in-water access, a high-velocity freshwater current, a working public park, the typical waterline, an existing timber crib wall and adjacent pier access. It is shoreline and habitat infrastructure rather than a navigation-channel package.
- Commercial evidence boundary
- The greenfield construction package is closed. The relevant follow-on market is structural inspection, baffle and steel condition assessment, hydraulic verification, biological monitoring, freeze-thaw maintenance and any repeat deployment on hardened Great Lakes shorelines. The completion release does not provide enough evidence to rate contractor performance or long-term ecological durability.
Project timeline
Material developments
Dated events that changed scope, counterparties, delivery, commissioning or operating status.
Open this project in the Change LogProject partners marked completion of the combined fish passage
USACE reports a USD 13.4 million, 778-foot completed structure, construction measurements below the shiner swimming threshold and initial observations of shiners using the passage. Long-term biological and structural performance remains open.
SourceBidco mobilized for the 700-foot full phase
The USD 11.8 million package moved from award into delivery with river-edge wall repair, steel plate, concrete, grout and baffle installation.
SourceUSACE published the full-phase design and award boundary
The release tied the 700-foot design to the successful 78-foot demonstration and identified Bidco Marine Group as the full-phase contractor.
SourceThe 78-foot demonstration tested three baffle configurations
The demonstration established the structural and hydraulic basis later carried into the full-phase concrete-filled metal baffles along the remaining seawall.
SourceEvidence gap
What remains unverified
Outstanding evidence
- As-built drawings, survey records and formal completion or acceptance documentation
- Hydraulic measurement locations, test conditions and comparison with the design threshold
- Seasonal emerald shiner passage counts and an independently reviewable monitoring time series
- Timber crib wall, steel plate, grout, concrete and baffle condition after freeze-thaw and high-flow cycles
- Maintenance ownership, inspection frequency and repair triggers for the river-facing structure
- Evidence used to remove the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat beneficial-use impairment in the Niagara River Area of Concern
Sources and related records
Read featured analysis Methodology Submit a correction Project tracker
Source collections
Project sources 5
- Innovative USD 13.4M Niagara River Fish Passage Completed, Revitalizing Critical Great Lakes Food Web U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District via DVIDS, 23 July 2026
- Army Corps of Engineers with GLRI funding building critical fish passage in Niagara River U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, 31 March 2025
- Army Corps of Engineers and EPA building critical fish passage in Niagara River U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, 24 September 2024
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct fish passage demonstration project in Buffalo U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, 28 June 2021
- Unconfined fishway design, implementation, and assessment for the Emerald Shiner in the Upper Niagara River Ecological Engineering, 2023