Glen Gebhardt, an engineer with River Islands, the developer of a town planned for a vacant tract in the Delta town of Lathrop, hired Concord, Calif.-based Independent Construction Co. in mid-September. The job was construction on six miles of what will eventually become 300-ft wide crown levees with slopes of 10:1 at a cost approaching $1 million a mile.

Independent started by excavating 6 to 8 ft of soil and performing deep dynamic compaction with local material. The soils are mainly sandy, but compaction closes the pores to create a solid foundation, says Gilbert Cosio, vice president of Sacramento-based MBK Engineers Inc., working for the local reclamation district and River Islands.