MASSENA — The New York Power Authority has awarded Gomez and Sullivan Engineers P.C. of Syracuse a $435,000 contract to redesign and engineer a dike within the Wilson Hill Wildlife Management Area in the town of Louisville.

The contract will run from June 1 through Dec. 31, 2010.

The wildlife management area lies within NYPA's St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project. NYPA committed to improving the management area as part of the power project's relicensing.

The new design is needed because a submerged log road that was found at the construction site for the new dike, and which was covered over with asphalt, made the original design unsuitable.

In June 2004, Shaw/Stone & Webster Engineering of NY, Stoughton, Mass., was awarded the contract for the design of the wilderness area improvements, including the original design for the new dike. The other improvements include refurbishing and improving the existing dikes and water control structures and installing new water control structures.

A construction contract was awarded in July to J.E. Sheehan Contractors, Potsdam. Construction began in August.

The log road, which was built in or before the 1860s, was discovered after deteriorated asphalt was removed from the submerged road. Work was stopped pending discussion with the state Historic Preservation Office, archaeological investigation of the log road and review of engineering considerations for the new dike.

The Historic Preservation Office allowed construction to resume in December but the engineering review found that the logs compromised the new dike's purpose, which was to create an impervious physical barrier between the east and west pools. While work on other aspects of the project resumed, the dike had to be redesigned and a new contract put out to bid for the work.