The Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based specialty contractor installed Synthetex AB400 scour protection panels across three bridge crossings on one of South Florida’s busiest tidal boating corridors.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — OCTOBER 7, 2026 —
US FUSION & Specialty Construction, LLC (US FUSION), a Louisiana-based specialty contractor providing geosynthetic containment, marine erosion control, and Fabric-Formed Concrete (FFC) installation services, has completed installation of an Articulating Block Mattress (ABM) scour protection system on Fort Lauderdale’s New River. The project scope covered 55 Synthetex AB400 ABM panels across three separate bridge crossings..
Serving the Gulf Coast and Southeast
US FUSION is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with an additional facility in La Porte, Texas, and provides specialty construction, primary and secondary containment liner systems, HDPE and specialty plastics piping, and erosion-control applications to marine, industrial, municipal, and infrastructure clients across the Gulf Coast and Southeast United States. The New River project placed US FUSION crews and dive teams along Fort Lauderdale’s Riverwalk district, working at the SE 3rd Avenue, Andrews Avenue, and SW 4th/7th Avenue bridges in Broward County, Florida; a stretch of waterway that serves as the primary route for yacht traffic into and out of the city’s marinas.
Project Scope by the Numbers
US FUSION’s dive team, one diver supervisor and five diver mechanics supporting up to two divers in the water at a time, installed 17 ABM panels at the SE 3rd Avenue Bridge, 22 panels at the Andrews Avenue Bridge, and 16 panels at the SW 4th/7th Avenue Bridge, for a total of 55 Synthetex AB400 panels across the three bridge groups. Installation involved customizing ABM fabric bags on site, positioning and zip-connecting panels around existing bridge piles, pumping concrete grout into panels through 8-inch filling sleeves, hand-packing grout around piling connections, and jetting anchor trenches on the upstream and downstream sides of each panel run.
A Uniquely Complex Site
The New River scour protection project represented an unusually complex scope for US FUSION, even within the company’s history of highly complicated Protex-related marine and geosynthetic projects. The site sits along Fort Lauderdale’s Riverwalk district, a small, densely developed, and highly visible stretch of waterway that also functions as the primary transit route for yacht traffic moving in and out of the city’s marinas. Work had to proceed without disrupting that traffic and observing manatee protection laws. US FUSION coordinated directly with the general contractor, a third-party project inspector, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the City of Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, residences, and business and boat owners along the river corridor, seven distinct stakeholder groups on a single scope of work.
Adapting the Plan to Match the Field
Field conditions required US FUSION to adjust its plan after mobilization. Crews encountered significant debris on the river bottom that had to be removed, requiring the river bottom to be leveled before ABM panels could be installed. The work that expanded the original scope and had to be carefully tracked as it was completed. US FUSION’s project lead also re-verified each bridge’s actual field dimensions against the original survey data used to fabricate the ABM bags, and modified panels where field conditions differed from the survey, a quality-control step the company builds into its ABM installation process to avoid fit issues once panels are in the water.
Solving for rapid Tidal Current
The New River is tidal, and US FUSION crews measured current speeds up to 6 mph, adding installation and safety complexities beyond the norm of many marine applications. Installing large ABM panels in that current required the team to develop and test multiple installation methods before settling on an approach that worked with the tide rather than against it. From pre-job data gathering, US FUSION ultimately built its work plan, customized panel layouts and installation schedule for the Andrews Avenue and SW 4th/7th Avenue bridge groups around tide times and lunar phase and set panel-installation direction based on the incoming tide, which ran stronger than the outgoing tide. Throughout installation, US FUSION’s dive supervisor and project lead maintained continuous marine-radio contact with bridge operators, coordinating up to three radio channels and a cell phone at once at peak periods, to confirm divers were clear of the water before boat traffic was allowed to pass, and to hold traffic when it wasn’t.
Keeping Grout Supply on Schedule
To keep panel-filling operations on schedule, US FUSION took direct coordination of concrete and grout supply from the batch plant, timing deliveries to match the pace of grout pumping into the ABM panels’ filling sleeves.
A Complex Marine Environment
“This project reflects the type of complex marine environment where US FUSION’s experience makes a difference,” said Dustin Miller, President of US FUSION & Specialty Construction, LLC. “Our team worked through strong tidal currents, heavy yacht traffic, limited access, environmental constraints, and coordination with multiple stakeholder groups, not to mention an occasional manatee sighting, all while keeping the river open to boat traffic. Installing all 55 ABM panels safely required detailed preconstruction planning, field-level problem solving, and constant communication between our crews, bridge operators, inspectors, and project stakeholders. This is exactly the kind of execution that demonstrates our capability in marine and underwater FFC applications.”
About US FUSION & Specialty Construction
US FUSION & Specialty Construction is a 100% employee-owned specialty plastics contractor based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, founded in 1989 with more than 35 years of experience in specialty plastics piping systems, custom spool fabrication, plastic fusion, geosynthetic containment, secondary containment, and erosion control. The company serves clients in the energy, LNG, petrochemical, refining, power, data center, manufacturing, municipal, and government sectors across the Gulf South and nationally. US FUSION & Specialty Construction maintains a full-service fabrication shop in Baton Rouge capable of producing piping spools and specialty components in HDPE, polypropylene, PVDF, and other fusible plastic materials, with 24/7 field crews available for both planned scopes and emergency response. Project experience includes major LNG export infrastructure in Cameron, Louisiana, and DOE-affiliated work at the Savannah River Site. Through its US RUBBER & Specialty Applications brand, US FUSION provides industrial rubber lining and specialty coating systems for tanks, vessels, and piping. For more information, visit usfusion.com.
Media Contact
Dustin Miller
President
US FUSION & Specialty Construction, LLC
(337) 945-0721
dustinm@usfusion.com
www.usfusion.com
